Abstract
Objective
To explore students’ and midwives’ preparation and experiences of supervision and assessment in practice using the new Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment (SSSA).
Design An exploratory qualitative study was undertaken. Student midwives and registered midwives were invited to participate using online recruitment strategies across closed groups. Participants were required to complete either an open-ended questionnaire or participate in an in-depth interview. The demographics and background data were presented in a descriptive format and qualitative data was analysed thematically.
Setting and participants Twenty-two student midwives and thirteen registered midwives from across the United Kingdom that had experience using the new Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment were recruited for this study.
Findings The thematic analysis identified three key themes: ‘Thrown in the deep end’ where a lack of preparation, training, time, resources, and communication were identified. ‘A double-edged sword’ in which staff and students identified the benefits of working with different professionals whilst acknowledging the significant challenges they faced without the student-midwife relationship and lack of supervisor continuity. ‘A daily struggle’ was expressed due to burnout which many students faced. Overall, one overarching theme that threaded itself through the narrative was that ‘it takes a village’ to create competent and confident midwives.
Key conclusions and implications for practice This study highlights some of the benefits students and midwives experience using the new standards but they are marred with significant challenges which need to be addressed to protect the future workforce and the public. There needs to be a more collaborative effort to ensure that midwives have the right resources, training, and protected time to fulfil their roles as supervisors and assessors. The student journey across placement needs to be mapped out carefully to ensure that an element of continuity that builds a student-midwife relationship is maintained. This will alleviate the impact on student learning, confidence, and burnout.