My Third Master's Module "Professional Midwifery Advocate Preparation" Review

The Professional Midwifery Advocate (PMA) module was very different to what I was originally expecting. I thought it would be all about being a PMA and the face-to-face role involved with supporting staff, but instead it was very much focussed on personal development which having now gone through the entire course, is actually very enlightening and I can see how the two tie together. I hadn't realised how much a PMA was required to be a leader, manager and researcher. 

Course content was very varied. Each week involved a live session and variety of different online learning through reading, research, videos and images. There weren't any podcasts recommended in this module but there were a lot of TED TALKS utilised. I really enjoyed the online learning and the depth that was involved, however, it was a little confused. 

It was the first time the module was combined with both midwives and nurses, and whilst this sounds great in practice, unfortunately there was only one nurse, which made it a little difficult. Also, because they had combined the course, they combined the course information and content which made it very confusing. Some of the content was missing, or wrong, or mislabelled. It was all a little confusing to be honest. 

On that note, it was quite badly organised. We were originally informed of a schedule for the 12 week module, but it then somewhat fell through. They also changed the schedule last minute on a number of occasions, meaning I was unable to attend as I had already made plans. Unlike the previous two modules, when live sessions were on, they were sometimes not recorded, and when they were, they were unfortunately not saved which meant we couldn't always catch up. Again, another difficulty arose when instead of just having the same link each week, they had multiple links for different presenters, which then changed and so not only were the students confused, but the staff were too. 

Nevertheless, the topics discussed were really interesting and very unique. From an introduction to the PMA course, we then learnt about the history behind it and factors that drove it. We learnt about the A-EQUP model and restorative clinical supervision, having a number of opportunities throughout the course to practice these skills and apply the knowledge. Topics of containment, reciprocity and resilience were explored. The module finished with self-growth and personal development. These were based on motivation, leadership and self-compassion. Like I said, I wasn't expecting the personal action aspect to be related to myself, however I actually really enjoyed it and I think it's helped make me not only a better PMA and midwife, but a better person and I would defintely recommend the package to all.