Midwife Job Description
Midwives provide one of the most important childbirth services there is: supporting pregnant mothers and their families through the pregnancy process and the birth itself. This is a highly rewarding medical role so if you’re looking for your next midwife job, Medacs has a range of temporary and permanent midwife roles.
Being a midwife
As a midwife, you’ll be an expert on both pregnancy and the birthing process itself. Most commonly, you’ll be working closely with pregnant women, providing support, advice and guidance on options and services available. You’ll also be:
- Providing full antenatal care, including parenting classes, clinical examinations and screenings
- Identifying high-risk pregnancies
- Monitoring women and assisting them through the labour and birthing process
- Teaching new parents how best to provide care for newborn babies
- Liaising with other agencies, health and social care providers to ensure continuity of care.
Midwives act as the first point of contact for expectant mothers which means they need to be experts in their field. Midwives also need to be capable and confident when dealing with people, including mothers from challenging, isolated and often socially excluded backgrounds. Midwives sometimes need to provide support for mothers who have experienced stillbirth, miscarriage, termination or neonatal death.
Individuals applying for midwifery jobs will need to have the personal skills to deal with these complex situations. As a result, you’ll need to be well-experienced and qualified to become a midwife. But, once qualified, your skills will be required in a wide range of different medical environments, such as NHS hospitals, neonatal units, postnatal wards or within the community.
Qualifications for midwife jobs
To begin applying for midwife jobs, you’ll first need an undergraduate and a postgraduate degree in a midwifery course. You could also choose to pursue a diploma or secure a position on a midwifery apprenticeship, but once qualified you’ll need to be registered with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC).
Ideally, throughout your time as a student, you’ll gain as much experience as possible in a related environment. Places for midwife courses are competitive and often challenging to get, so gaining as much practical experience as possible is important.
Key skills for midwives
Qualifications will form the basis of your career, but you’ll also need a number of essential skills in order to excel in a midwife job. You’ll need to have:
- Excellent and understanding communication
- A caring and calm manner when dealing with often distressing situations
- Confidence at prioritising tasks in high-pressure environments
- Strong teamwork skills
- Interest in the pregnancy and birthing process, and a commitment to developing your knowledge constantly
- A dedication to treating all women equally, regardless of background and identity.
Where can midwifery take you?
As a midwife, you can expect to work quite closely with gynaecologists, general practitioners (GPs), health visitors, neonatal nurses and support workers, so there is plenty of room for developing knowledge and specialising your skills. You may choose to specialise your skills in antenatal screening, home birthing, public health or labour ward supervision.
You could also choose to pursue consultancy or management, where you’ll be taking on greater responsibilities for many of the patients within a particular hospital or care department. You could otherwise choose to pursue teaching or academic research, but there are many different pathways that a midwife job could take you.
What’s next for your career?
When it comes to searching and applying for midwife jobs, Medacs has a wide range of temporary and permanent medical roles. We receive new jobs daily, and with the freedom to choose where you work and how often, pursuing your next medical job with us is a great way to find the ideal job for you.
As the preferred supplier of health professionals, you can apply to midwife jobs before most. We can help with negotiating the right pay package and supporting your future career development. Whatever your level of experience and medical specialty, apply for your next medical job with us.
