Midwifery Students Demonstrating their Midwifery Philosophies through Art

All nurses and midwives have clear principles that guide their practice. These principles underpin all their actions. Another way to describe these principles is ‘having a philosophy’. A midwifery philosophy contains many of the following ideas: woman centred care, respectful relationships; partnership, evidence based practice, collaboration with other healthcare professionals, empowerment of the woman, advocacy, autonomy of the woman, and holistic care.

In the first subject in the Bachelor of Midwifery component of the double degree, the students are asked to explore their own philosophy of midwifery. They are asked to express it in imagery as well as words. These photos are from this tutorial. This philosophy will stay with them for the rest of their training and throughout their working lives as midwives, but will not remain static. As they grow in knowledge and understanding and experience this philosophy will develop and expand and may even become more detailed. Expression of their philosophies is starting the students on a journal of self-reflection and growth and can lead to professionals who know who they are, what they are doing and help them to remain a midwife - ‘with woman’.