Forest City Midwifery C.A.R.E. is a preceptor site for student midwives. The option of having a student involved in your care may be offered to you. Midwifery students are in placement with us from four months to one year. You will only have one student assigned to you and students always work under the supervision of a midwife. You play an important role in teaching future midwives sensitive, client-centered care. Your feedback to them, and to us, is an essential part of their experience. Inviting a student to be part of your team will enhance your experience and your care while enhancing the skills of the learner.

Inter-professional Students

In addition to midwifery students, our practice occasionally has medical, nursing, or other health and social service students learning from our midwives. Please also welcome them – it is so valuable to improve inter-professional understanding about the role of midwives.

About the McMaster Midwifery Educational Program

The McMaster Midwifery Education Program began in 1993 as part of a consortium with Laurentian and Ryerson Universities. The program is a four-year undergraduate degree program in which graduates receive a Bachelor of Health Sciences in Midwifery (BHSc). Graduates register with the College of Midwives of Ontario to practice in Ontario.

Introduction to Midwifery: Year 1

Midwifery clients may meet with students who are in their first year of the program. Students benefit from a variety of experiences, such as meeting clients at clinic appointments and coming to births in an observer or supporter role.

Midwifery Placement: Year 2

In this four-month placement, the student learns how to provide care during and after pregnancy, labour, and birth. The midwife teacher is always with the student or close at hand. The student learns how to perform clinical skills and provide information. The midwife teacher shows the student how to provide support and monitoring during labour and how to catch a baby. By the end of the term, the student can do most normal care with little supervision.

Midwifery Placement: Year 3

Third-year students spend two terms in a variety of inter-professional and community placements, including with an obstetrician, labour floor nurse, and lactation consultant. This year can include one month at a midwifery practice and placements in rural, remote, or international settings.

Midwifery Placement: Year 4

In the first term of the final year, the student acts more and more as the midwife, but the midwife teacher is always nearby. As the year progresses, students can do most client and baby care independently but with the midwife teacher closely available during labour or available by phone for postpartum visits.