student midwife who needs support

Hi, I’m a second-year student midwife and I’m really struggling with placement at the moment. I’ve missed quite a few shifts because I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and unsupported, and it’s starting to affect my confidence, especially in intrapartum. I don’t have any births signed off yet and it’s making me feel like I’m way behind everyone else. I have mentioned this many times to the shift lead or the midwife i'm working with, and they don't really seem to support as much.
I’ve emailed my personal tutor because I didn’t want to wait until my next review (which is months away) for the issue to get worse. I’m trying to take responsibility now and turn things around, but the anxiety is definitely getting to me.
I’m planning to go in tomorrow with a proper plan: look through my proficiencies, write down what I need to get signed off, and speak to my supervisor about building confidence in intrapartum. But right now I just feel really deflated.
Has anyone else been in this position before? Missing shifts, struggling with births, feeling behind on proficiencies/PERS or just not feeling supported? How did you get back on track?
Any advice or reassurance would really help.

Hi, I’m a second-year student midwife and I’m really struggling with placement at the moment. I’ve missed quite a few shifts because I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and unsupported, and it’s starting to affect my confidence, especially in intrapartum. I don’t have any births signed off yet and it’s making me feel like I’m way behind everyone else. I have mentioned this many times to the shift lead or the midwife i'm working with, and they don't really seem to support as much.
I’ve emailed my personal tutor because I didn’t want to wait until my next review (which is months away) for the issue to get worse. I’m trying to take responsibility now and turn things around, but the anxiety is definitely getting to me.
I’m planning to go in tomorrow with a proper plan: look through my proficiencies, write down what I need to get signed off, and speak to my supervisor about building confidence in intrapartum. But right now I just feel really deflated.
Has anyone else been in this position before? Missing shifts, struggling with births, feeling behind on proficiencies/PERS or just not feeling supported? How did you get back on track?
Any advice or reassurance would really help.

Hi, I’m a second-year student midwife and I’m really struggling with placement at the moment. I’ve missed quite a few shifts because I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and unsupported, and it’s starting to affect my confidence, especially in intrapartum. I don’t have any births signed off yet and it’s making me feel like I’m way behind everyone else. I have mentioned this many times to the shift lead or the midwife i'm working with, and they don't really seem to support as much.
I’ve emailed my personal tutor because I didn’t want to wait until my next review (which is months away) for the issue to get worse. I’m trying to take responsibility now and turn things around, but the anxiety is definitely getting to me.
I’m planning to go in tomorrow with a proper plan: look through my proficiencies, write down what I need to get signed off, and speak to my supervisor about building confidence in intrapartum. But right now I just feel really deflated.
Has anyone else been in this position before? Missing shifts, struggling with births, feeling behind on proficiencies/PERS or just not feeling supported? How did you get back on track?
Any advice or reassurance would really help.

Hi, I’m a second-year student midwife and I’m really struggling with placement at the moment. I’ve missed quite a few shifts because I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and unsupported, and it’s starting to affect my confidence, especially in intrapartum. I don’t have any births signed off yet and it’s making me feel like I’m way behind everyone else. I have mentioned this many times to the shift lead or the midwife i'm working with, and they don't really seem to support as much.
I’ve emailed my personal tutor because I didn’t want to wait until my next review (which is months away) for the issue to get worse. I’m trying to take responsibility now and turn things around, but the anxiety is definitely getting to me.
I’m planning to go in tomorrow with a proper plan: look through my proficiencies, write down what I need to get signed off, and speak to my supervisor about building confidence in intrapartum. But right now I just feel really deflated.
Has anyone else been in this position before? Missing shifts, struggling with births, feeling behind on proficiencies/PERS or just not feeling supported? How did you get back on track?
Any advice or reassurance would really help.

Well done for the steps you are taking, hang in there

I'm not a midwife but I have felt like I am struggling while on a university placement before.
It helped me to separate in my head what was expected of the role versus how much pressure I was deciding to put on myself on top.
I need to head offline now but I do have some more thoughts that may be useful - hope today is a good one for you though

Hi angel ☺️ ☺️
Well done for what you have done so far 👍 👍 as a student midwife as you have to remember that midwifery is a absolutely difficult degree to do.
I would suggest that you make appointments to discuss any issues you have with both your university course leaders and also placement officer as you should be getting support and help from your mentor/ supervisor or the ward sister/ manager. You can't wait until next month for a review meeting so you need to get it arranged quicker to sort out things 😕 😕. Also perhaps talk with your university student union representative for advice as they are there for you 🙏.
You unfortunately missed some placement's which you need to talk about with your university placement officer who'll rearrange those for you with someone ( might not be the same place you were at but different one) . You want to make sure you are almost up to date with all your coursework as you approach starting your 3rd and final year, I know that some students struggle with certain aspects of the midwifery course including births ( I think it could be down to different people teaching you different ways on each placement you do)
I would definitely make sure you get more support from your mentor/ supervisor for rest of this particular placement. Ask them questions about anything you not sure about okay, ask them to sit down with you during breaks etc and discuss anything you have concerns about,
Have you done plenty of deliveries over the two years so far ( remember you need a minimum of 40 deliveries by the time you are completing your midwife degree to satisfy the standards set down by NMC.
Get your confidence back up to what it was prior to this issue starting and hopefully you'll keep your confidence up for rest of your current placement and also rest of your degree.
I have had students coming from a different placement to us and they had similar issues what you have mentioned about but what I do with any new students we get is before they start working on the wards we sit down and have a good chat together and discuss with them any issues they have with both the current placement and previous placements so that we can sort out a plan of action from the start and we have regular meetings throughout the minimum seven weeks that they are with us.
Good luck with your rest of your degree...... I'm happy for you to message me and I will see if I can answer any questions but sometimes you will have to wait for a response okay but I will eventually get back to you 🥰🤗🤗
Keep me posted on how you are getting on ☺️ as would be appreciated 👍
NHS registered Band 7 senior charge nurse midwife

Hi Angel, I'm so sorry to hear you feel deflated. What you are doing preparing your PERs and proficiencies is perfect and looking for opportunities to complete them throughout your shift is something I do now as a 3rd year.
I remember in my cohort the signed off births were low in 2nd year because there is a very limited time spent in intrapartum in 1st year. However, the lack of support for you to gain births especially as you have none isn't ideal. Maybe arranging a face to face meeting with your CPFs, personal tutor or I'm not sure if your university has link lecturers who are more closely aligned with the trust you are currently placed at. Definitely speaking to your university is something I would advise, missing shifts can be hard to make up if there's no availability for you to be placed to make up and your wellbeing needs to be proritised which you deserve a plan put in place to help with.
All the best
Trenyce (Kingston Rep)

Thank you, I really appreciate you sharing that. It’s actually really helpful to hear, and I’ll definitely think about separating expectations from the pressure I’m putting on myself. Hope you have a good rest of your day too.

Thank you so much for this message, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain everything and for being so understanding.
I’ve already contacted my personal tutor and we’re planning to meet soon, and I’m also going to follow this up with practice education so I can get the right support in placement. I agree that it’s important not to leave things too long.
I know the course is demanding and I’m trying to take things step by step and get back to feeling more settled in placement. It’s reassuring to hear that other students have had similar experiences and that things can improve with the right support.
Thank you again for your advice and for offering to help, I really appreciate it and I’ll keep you updated on how things go.

Thank you so much for this, I really appreciate you taking the time to message me. It’s really reassuring to hear from a 3rd year, that low signed-off births in second year isn’t unusual, because that’s been weighing on me a lot. when I was in first year, I was always given the c-section ladies, or the ladies that were most likely to have an instrumental birth, due to the fact that third years needed births.
But I’ve contacted my personal tutor and we’re planning to meet, and I’m also looking at speaking to practice education to see what support can be put in place moving forward. I agree that the lack of support around gaining births needs addressing.
Thank you again, it honestly means a lot to hear this and I’ll definitely take your advice on board.

Thank you so much for this message, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain everything and for being so understanding.
I’ve already contacted my personal tutor and we’re planning to meet soon, and I’m also going to follow this up with practice education so I can get the right support in placement. I agree that it’s important not to leave things too long.
I know the course is demanding and I’m trying to take things step by step and get back to feeling more settled in placement. It’s reassuring to hear that other students have had similar experiences and that things can improve with the right support.
Thank you again for your advice and for offering to help, I really appreciate it and I’ll keep you updated on how things go.