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Pre-Midwifery Work Experience
Our pre-midwifery placements give you the chance to gain first hand experience of working alongside midwives and other health professionals in a real life hospital environment. Whether you’re looking to stand out on your UCAS application or simply learn more about your future career, there's nothing better than personal experience to give you a true insight into the midwifery profession.
Placements are ideal for students aged 16 and over and are popular with undergraduate nursing or midwifery students as well as those in Year 12/13 or taking a gap year. Good supervision is crucial, and you’ll be assigned a specific midwife or nurse as your personal mentor for the duration of the placement.
Unfortunately we can’t predict exactly when and where babies are going to be born(!) but the maternity departments we work with are generally busy and you are likely to observe several deliveries in a typical week. You’ll also have a good chance of seeing Caesarean sections, as home births are common in the developing world so those that come to hospital are often do so because of complications.
When you are not attending deliveries, your time will usually be divided between shadowing staff and helping on the antenatal and postnatal wards, and or neonatal intensive care.
Most students join us for two weeks, but our placements are available from one week to a month or more. As long as we have space on the programme, you can start and finish whenever you want, 52 weeks of the year. If you’re interested in midwifery, but not yet 100% sure that’s the career for you, we’re happy to arrange a combined midwifery and nursing placement that allows you to experience other hospital departments as well.
Undertaking hospital work experience abroad not only allows you to experience the effect of local conditions (such as malaria) on maternity care, it helps you to appreciate the diversity in healthcare provision around the world and see first hand the ethical dilemmas midwives in these countries face every day. It also – of course – turns a couple of weeks’ work experience into the adventure of a lifetime!
Weekends are free time, and students usually make the most of this to go travelling with fellow students from the Gap Medics house: Caribbean beaches, diving in Thailand, wildlife safaris in Africa or camel trekking in India… the choice is yours.
Supporting our hospitals
As part of our detailed partnership agreements, we pay our hospitals for every student they host to ensure everyone benefits from the programme and staff remain motivated. On average, around 10% of the total you pay goes directly to the hospital.
Gap Medics Houses
Living in one of our super-sociable houses is a huge part of the Gap Medics experience
Placements
"It was an incredible and life changing experience. Being in the maternity ward was exciting, moving and rewarding. I saw 13 births including three c-sections and it gave me a fantastic insight into childbirth and maternity care in a developing country. After doing the placement I feel absolutely certain that I want to become a midwife and I'm now taking steps towards achieving that goal. Thank you so much."