School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, New South Wales, Australia.
NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, New South Wales, Australia.
Midwifery. 2022 Jul;110:103319. doi: 10.1016/j.midw.2022.103319. Epub 2022 Apr 21.
Little is known about the experiences of undergraduate midwifery students employed as Assistants in Midwifery (AIM) in Australia.
Assistants in Nursing have been embedded in the Australian health system for many years, but the AIM role is relatively new. Undergraduate Bachelor of Midwifery students, in second or third year, can gain employment as an AIM at hospital maternity units. Little is known about the scope of practice for these roles and the experiences of AIM.
This study aimed to explore the experiences and scope of practice of AIM in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, over the last five years.
A Qualtrics online survey enabled collection of quantitative and qualitative data from 128 respondents in late 2019. This was accompanied with the analysis of position descriptions for all AIM jobs advertised between September 2019 and February 2020.
Analysis of AIM position descriptions reflected nursing language rather than midwifery. Survey responses demonstrated ambiguity about the AIM scope of practice and the appropriate level of supervision required to perform the role. Qualitative data revealed the many benefits of the role for midwifery students.
Opportunities to participate in midwifery assistant work enhances student confidence and improves job readiness. However, a clearly defined scope of practice is one of the most important components of any employment model for undergraduate students. Clarification of the role and scope of practice of the AIM role is long overdue. There is ongoing need for advocacy to ensure that students working as AIM are employed to carry out midwifery activities and are supervised by midwives.
This project provides insight into the advantages and disadvantages of working as an AIM whilst studying for a Bachelor of Midwifery degree. While the AIM position reaps many rewards for students, appropriate supervision in the workplace requires availability of adequate numbers of employed registered midwives.
对于在澳大利亚担任助产士助理 (AIM) 的本科助产专业学生的经历，人们知之甚少。
护士助理在澳大利亚卫生系统中已经存在多年，但 AIM 角色相对较新。本科助产士专业的二年级或三年级学生可以在医院产科病房获得 AIM 的工作机会。对于这些角色的实践范围和 AIM 的经验，人们知之甚少。
本研究旨在探讨过去五年中澳大利亚新南威尔士州 (NSW) AIM 的经验和实践范围。
2019 年末，通过 Qualtrics 在线调查收集了 128 名受访者的定量和定性数据。同时，还对 2019 年 9 月至 2020 年 2 月期间发布的所有 AIM 工作的职位描述进行了分析。
对 AIM 职位描述的分析反映了护理语言而不是助产语言。调查结果表明，AIM 实践范围存在模糊性，以及执行该角色所需的适当监督水平存在不确定性。定性数据揭示了该角色对助产专业学生的许多好处。
有机会参与助产助理工作可以提高学生的信心，并提高他们的就业准备能力。然而，明确的实践范围是任何本科学生就业模式最重要的组成部分之一。澄清 AIM 角色的角色和实践范围早已迫在眉睫。需要持续倡导，以确保以 AIM 身份工作的学生从事助产活动，并由助产士监督。
本项目深入了解了在攻读助产士学士学位期间担任 AIM 的优势和劣势。虽然 AIM 职位为学生带来了许多好处，但在工作场所提供适当的监督需要有足够数量的注册助产士。
