The AWMJC (All Wales Midwives Journal Club) is an opportunity for Midwives across Wales to come together to discuss all subjects linking to midwifery and maternity care.
The club is free to registered midwives and student midwives and aims to support the ongoing collaborative learning and professional development of midwives across the country
Our Mission is to bring together midwives from across the country to promote and encourage professional development and raise the profile of midwifery and enhance the conversations and development of evidence based resources that support care.
By Midwives, for Midwives.
To book your place, please click here.
We are holding our first LIVE on 6 October 2023.
Click here to secure your place and download your free resources!How does it work?
The AWMJC is coordinated by a team of Midwives across Wales who oversee the rotation of the AWMJC around Wales and work with local groups to host the AWMJC Live from your local Health Board once a year.
When it is the turn of your local health board to host the journal club your local coordination group will ask for suggestions for journal articles for discussion. If you would like to suggest an article you will be asked to provide a short explanation as to why you have chosen that article. Your coordination group will then come back to the AWMJC group with your suggestions so that we can seek the necessary permissions to use the articles.
Once an article has been selected the local coordination group will put together a presentation (in whatever style you like) which will lead the AWMJC Live through the topic and the learning points or interesting points for discussion that you have highlighted in the article.
Each Health Board will have someone available to them to help facilitate the session and the discussion.
The AWMJC Live will also be complimented by webinars, podcasts and other learning opportunities that will be made available via our AWMJC pages.
How did it start?
Midwives Journal Club started life as a local journal club in Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB to encourage and support the engagement of Midwives (and the wider MDT) with journal articles and wider reading.
The aim was to promote professional discussion around a wide range of topics that would link to midwifery and maternity care.
The original journal club was based on the idea of a book club. Someone would choose a journal article that they found interesting and bring it to the journal club to discuss. Our first journal club was led by a guest speaker who skilfully led the group through the learning points and discussions around the selected topic.
As word got out about our Journal Club we started to receive interest from colleagues outside of our health board who wanted to join us. As the journal club was hosted online we were able to link in with other colleagues and invite them to our second meeting.
As with our first Journal Club, we had a guest speaker who led the discussions allowing the midwives to attend and join in without any pressure. Following this we received more interest from colleagues across Wales who were interested in replicating the journal club in their areas.
As the idea for the Journal club was to bring midwives together to engage with discussion and learning from each other it seemed like a missed opportunity for sharing and learning together if we had individual journal clubs………. And so the idea of the All Wales Midwives Journal Club was born.
Who is behind the AWMJC?
I trained as a midwife in University of Glamorgan (now University of South Wales), qualifying in 2009. My midwifery practice has been based mainly in acute obstetric units with Alongside Midwifery Units. This afforded me experience in caring for women and birthing people in a midwifery led setting as well as for those with complex care needs.
My passion has always been learning and development, whether that be my own, or supporting others. In 2016 I completed my PGCe and began my journey in midwifery education. I have worked as a Lecturer in Midwifery in Swansea University teaching and supporting students midwives, midwives and paramedics across all aspects of midwifery education and training. I have also undertaken the roll of Programme Manager for Wales for Health Education Improvement Wales, focusing on the Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment and creating the Practice Supervisor/Practice Assessor training for Wales. I am currently in my dream job as a Practice Development Midwife, supporting learning and development of midwives and doctors of the future as well as our multi-disciplinary teams.
My aim in creating the original journal club was to support clinical midwives to re-engage with the literature that drives practice and to reignite their passion for all things midwifery. Once I could see the conversation and debates it sparked in my colleagues, I knew that we couldn’t keep this to ourselves, and so the All Wales Journal Midwives Journal Club was born.
I trained as a midwife in Cardiff University, qualifying in 2008. I have worked in a number of different areas within a hospital setting, providing both midwifery-led and complex care. I moved into the education sector in 2016, taking on the seconded roles of Education Liaison Midwife in Hywel Dda University Health Board and lecturer at Swansea University. I am now a full-time senior lecturer within the School of Health and Social Care at Swansea. I have a special interest in research and lead a module that prepares student midwives to become confident in critically analysing evidence and data in order to inform their practice. My aim is to engage and stimulate students by giving them the skills that takes the apprehension out of even the most challenging literature and makes it accessible to all. Further to this, I am also undertaking my own research into human rights in childbirth as a part-time postgraduate student.
My name is Laura Clarke. I trained in the University of Glamorgan and I have worked in CTMUHB for the last eight years. During my career, I have worked in various roles, both in the hospital and community settings, at the Royal Glamorgan, Prince Charles and Princess of Wales Hospitals.
For the last 5 years I have been part of the CTMUHB PROMPT Faculty, during this time I have supported the PROMPT Wales National Team, promoting evidence based practice in both the acute and community areas.
I am currently a Clinical Supervisor for Midwives in CTMUHB. This role aims to provide midwives with an opportunities to develop a commitment to learning, receive peer support whilst sharing experiences and challenge their own practice within a safe and confidential nurturing environment.
I am deeply passionate about quality, safety and service improvement within midwifery and strive to be an agent for change. I have recently taken on a role as PERIPrem Cymru National Lead Midwife within the Wales Maternity and Neonatal Network. Launched across the West of England and South West AHSN regions in April 2020, the PERIPrem bundle (Perinatal Excellence to Reduce Injury in Premature Birth) is a unique perinatal care bundle of eleven interventions that demonstrate a significant impact on brain injury and mortality rates amongst babies born prematurely. The aim of this project is to ensure successful delivery of the PERIPrem Cymru national launch phase.
As part of the All Wales Journal Club Steering Group my aim is to engage midwives, and students alike, to continue their professional development through access to literature. Bringing midwives and students together to discuss evidence based practice to motivate and support midwives to embrace the quality and safety culture that improves outcomes for women and their families.
I have been a registered midwife for over twenty years, specialising in Childbirth Related Perineal Trauma. I have a passion for midwifery led research to improve and evolve care and our profession. I want to support everyone in becoming involved in research and remembering it is a vital component of our role. I am also dedicated to getting our midwifery knowledge published and shared.
I am the Editor of The Practising Midwife Journal, and Assistant Professor Midwifery at Northumbria University. I have a passion for teaching midwifery and supporting midwifery scholarship. I am a prolific writer on a range of topics related to midwifery, women's reproductive rights and humanised care, inclusive midwifery and, LGBT+ issues and gender equality. My edited collection Bearing the Weight of the World, Exploring Maternal Embodiment is published by Demeter Press. I am also a novelist, published by Honno Press.
I trained as a Midwife back in 2004 in Anglia Polytechnic University. Despite my training in Essex, I am a Welsh girl through and through. Since qualifying I worked in Southend Hospital, University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff and now a proud member of Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB Maternity Team. I am a band 6 midwife working predominately on labour ward and a Royal College of Midwives Workplace Rep.
A self-proclaimed inquisitive Dory, I have many interests. These include: a passion for improving the working environment for maternity staff which in turn will improve the care to women, birthing people and families. A keen interest in helping colleagues to develop and reach their potential and a currently improving my knowledge on how quality improvement fits into Midwifery and how digital knowledge can drive changes in the NHS.
As part of the All-Wales Journal Club Steering Group my role will be to network and engage midwives from all the health boards in Wales to get involved. To promote involvement by explaining how maternity staff can utilise these sessions to continue their development and critical thinking. To encourage others (myself included) to not be afraid of reading and analysing literature, having professional discussions with colleagues and to start on that path towards possibly publishing themselves.
AWMJC Testimonials
“I had the pleasure of attending the Cwm Taf Journal Club last year and was so excited by the dynamic and interactive session. It was so refreshing to see midwives have the opportunity to share evidence, knowledge and a culture of learning and trust. I love nothing more than learning and seeing information from others perspectives and this journal club did just that! The club being launched at an All Wales level is going to be transformative. I cannot wait to watch midwives from across Wales come together and discuss our practice and learn from each other!” Faith Worrall, Community Midwife – Three Counties Team.
“It was really lovely to be part of the Midwifery Journal Club and have the opportunity to share and discuss research with midwives across Wales. The virtual environment is perfect for the journal club as it means interested midwives from any Health Board can join in the discussions with the authors and it creates an excellent forum for learning. It really helps to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Such a friendly welcoming group and great for revalidation too!” Lucie Warren, Senior Lecturer & Professional Head of Midwifery.