If you’re looking for a stable, worthwhile career, you may have debated going down the healthcare route. Training to be a midwife in particular gives you invaluable skills and allows you to help women throughout their pregnancy, giving advice, guidance and much needed support. Nursing isn’t the only option when it comes to healthcare, so if you want to do something different, training to be a midwife could be the best decision of your life, and here’s why.
Opportunities to Climb the Ladder
A midwife qualification can lead to many open doors, whether you want to become a matron for the labor ward or become a breastfeeding support specialist. As you begin working within your role, you will start to notice which parts of the job you enjoy most, whether this be supporting mothers, coordinating a ward or the great research that is carried out in hospitals for pregnant women and babies to improve quality of life and care.
Once you have a few years of experience, you can look at branching out and climbing the career ladder. If you have already trained to be a nurse, don’t let this stop you. Those who already have a nursing degree and want to improve their skills and learn more can become a dnp midwife via an online program. DNP stands for A Doctor of Nursing Practice and is one of the highest qualifications you can earn as a nurse. If you want to shape the future of nursing and become a leader in midwifery, a DNP can help.
Variety
Variety is the spice of life and midwifery can provide a new challenge every day. If you like each day to be different, working in a healthcare setting always brings new and brilliant people into your life. While some of the general tasks will be the same, every pregnancy and labor is slightly different and every woman you care for will have a new story to tell. With more advances in healthcare, midwives will often learn of new ways to support women and help women to give birth to babies with a myriad of complications and health needs. There is always an opportunity to learn and grow as a midwife, making the career varied and interesting.
A Career That Works Around You
Midwifery provides plenty of opportunity to work around your family life and other commitments. Midwives can work part-time or full-time or some may even work for an agency, choosing shifts as and when it suits them. Some midwives enjoy working shorter shifts so they can pick up their children from school, while others prefer working longer 12/13-hour shifts, providing them with more days off. You also have the option to work during days, nights or a mixture of both.
Not only can your working hours work around your home life, you can also choose where you would like to work. While a labor ward seems like the most obvious choice, there are many more career options than this. A ward is a great place to start to get your bearings and gain confidence, but after a few years, you may want to head out into the community, doing home visits for prenatal and antenatal mothers or working in clinics within doctors’ practices or community healthcare centers.
A Stable Career
With COVID-19 stopping many workers in their tracks, it has become more obvious than ever that there is a need for stable jobs. Healthcare professionals are never going to be replaced by computers and people aren’t going to stop having children, meaning the need for midwives is always great. With more women being able to conceive than ever before due to advances in technology such as IVF, midwives are well sought-after. No matter where you work or how many hours you want to work, there will be a job in midwifery for you.
The Chance to See Different Areas During Training
During your training, you will likely work in different hospitals close to your university or home, where you can see how different labor wards work, giving you the chance to see first-hand where you would like to work once qualified. Unlike many other students who chose different degrees, midwives have the opportunity to work in the community and in different healthcare settings, so they can form an idea of where they enjoy working most.
Many other students don’t get this chance, meaning they may go straight into a job from university and dislike it, as they didn’t know what to expect. Furthermore, working in different healthcare settings will allow you to meet other midwives, who can vouch for you during interview and have had the chance to see you work, improving your chances of getting hired.
You Get to Help People
If sitting in an office or working for a big faceless business doesn’t feel like your kind of role, becoming a midwife could be a better career choice. If you have always loved to help others, being there emotionally and providing support, a midwifery career may be well suited to you. It is no easy task helping mothers through pregnancy and childbirth, but bringing a life into this world is perhaps one of the most rewarding things you can do. You have the ability to come home from a shift smiling, knowing you have helped a woman through one of the biggest chapters of her life.
A great, caring midwife will stick in a woman’s mind for the rest of her life, meaning you can shape thousands of lives through your career. Remember, choosing a career in midwifery isn’t just about babies. You are there for the mother and to support her needs just as much, if not more. Once the baby is born, a midwife may only be in the mother’s life for a few weeks before care is transferred, so keep this in mind when choosing midwifery. If you want to care for children, a pediatric nurse role may be more suited.
Training to be a midwife provides a stable, caring occupation that allows plenty of opportunities for learning and career advancement. If the above has got you excited about a career in midwifery, search for courses near you today.
