The Competence Assessment Guidelines: Five Competence Criterias For A Student Midwife

The Competence Assessment Guidelines have five competence criteria; Communication and documentation, knowledge and skills, cultural competence and partnership, decision making and critical thinking as well as professional accountability. Using the guidelines, I will have a self-evaluation of myself as a year one student midwife during clinical placement.
On the communication and documentation criterion, I have been taught about introducing myself, seeking informed choice and consent from women (Guilliland and Pairman, 2010, p. 64). Hence, I am confident to take the initiative in explaining why and how I am practicing the skills on the women and most importantly gaining their informed consent. I am also ready to respond appropriately when communicating

Higgs, Ajjawi, McAllister, Trede & Loftus, (2012, p. 199) mention that cultural safety ‘means that there is no assault, challenge or denial of people’s personal identity, of who they are and what they need’ which is an important concept for a midwifery student to understand and accept in a diverse culture like New Zealand. Initially, I had much concern about my competence in it as I had never partnered a working relationship with these women before. It was encouraging to receive feedback from women of different ethnicities and cultures that they appreciated my role as a student midwife when I was partnering with them. One of the midwife commented that I had asked about the women’s preferences and involved their families in caring for both the women and babies. Nevertheless, I have problem of remembering and even pronouncing the women’s and their babies’ names especially in Maori correctly. I have to put in more effort to pronounce their names correctly and to learn a few common Maori words such as ‘puku’ for ‘belly’ to show my interest and respect for their culture, of the women and their whanau (Pairman, Pincombe, Thorogood, & Tracy, 2015, p. 231). In the long-term, I also need to acquire cultural understanding in particular to Maori and Polynesian

There was an incidence whereby a woman who walked into the Women’s Assessment Unit with her partner for birthing. She claimed that she had her water bag broken and was advised by her midwife to approach the hospital for assistance. My midwife preceptor requested me to bring the woman to one of the delivery suites for cardiotocography (CTG) monitoring first. In the delivery suite, the woman told me that she was ‘pushing her baby’ while I was trying to place the CTG on her belly. Next, she also asked for ‘gas’. My immediate instinct was to apply ‘SBARR’ (origin unknown) which stands for situation, background, assessment, recommendation and response. Firstly, I identify the seriousness of situation which the woman is in. Secondly, I asked about her background such as her gestation stage and her partner replied 40 weeks. Next, I had a quick glance of the woman and indeed she was in labour and her face had turned pale. My assessment probed that I had to call for help but I hesitated a moment on which button to press; green or red; which should I recommend – an immediate or delayed response. I decided that red button should be more appropriate since the woman was in need of a ‘desperate’ response. The whole medical team and midwives came rushing at the instance I pressed on the red button. The midwives had a check on the woman’s vaginal