Preparing for your midwifery course

If you're applying for a student loan to fund your midwifery course, ensure you have all the relevant information to hand. 

Did you know there are also bursaries and grants available depending on your circumstances? Find out more on our how to become a midwife page to see if you're eligible here.

You should also look at the finance section of your university's website to see if they also offer any financial help. 

Find out who your Lead Midwife for Education (LME, also known as Head of Midwifery) and your midwifery tutor are. 

These midwives will be guiding you throughout your course and will be able to support you if you have any questions or queries. Sometimes starting a course such as midwifery can be daunting and they will be able to assist you in ensuring you are settled in your role as a student midwife. 

Make sure you have access to the information resources available to you.

MIDIRS

Here at MIDIRS we support student midwives such as yourself to excel in their studies with the quarterly international journal MIDIRS Midwifery Digest and the world's largest midwifery-specific database Maternity and Infant Care (MIC). You can access both of these resources from £4.41 per month, equipping you with the latest midwifery research. Subscribe here.

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM)

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) is the UK's union for midwives and maternity support workers, but they also support student midwives too!

A student membership offers access to a comprehensive e-learning platform called RCM i-learn, containing modules on the latest maternity topics. You'll also have access to Evidence Based Midwifery (EBM) and receive Midwives magazine. As well as this, you can go onto your midwifery placements with confidence with help and advice available to you throughout your course.

Student membership costs £1.67 per month. You even get 20% off your MIDIRS subscription! Find out more here. 

Most universities that offer midwifery as a course will have a midwifery society. Find out about joining yours! Midwifery societies are a great way to meet like-minded student midwives from across all the years. You'll be able to learn from student midwives and share your own experiences to help others. There's also the opportunity for fun things too! If your university doesn't have a society, you could find out how to set one up at your university's advice centre.

Student Midwife Forum (SMF)

The Student Midwife Forum (SMF) is a collective of student midwives from across the UK and are part of helping the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) shape the future of midwifery. Each member of the SMF are elected to represent all four corners of the UK to discuss current challenges in midwifery and meet in-person four times a year. 

RCM student members receive updates from the SMF through the student ezine. Find out who is currently part of the SMF and how to get involved here. You can also follow the team on Twitter here.

We understand preparing for university can be daunting, which is why we have a free literature search pack that is tailored to your first year of your midwifery course. 

Download your free literature search pack (PDF) here.

MIDIRS literature search packs 

We have 550 literature search packs that are free to MIDIRS subscribers in the Maternity and Infant Care (MIC) database. Each pack contains research references on specific maternity care topics that can support you in your midwifery studies. We even offer a bespoke search service where our librarians can create one especially for your research needs. Find out more about our literature search pack service here.