In response to the evolving needs of the midwifery profession in the UK, and the recommendations emerging from national reviews, there was a pressing demand to re-envision the support and supervision of midwives. In 2012, the statutory supervision in midwifery was revoked and replaced by the voluntary, employer led role of the Professional Midwifery Advocate. Although this role is classed a voluntary, the role is specified in the NHS contract and is a key line of enquiry in Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections. Out of this necessity, the "A-EQUIP" model was conceptualised and brought to life. Central to the A-EQUIP model is the role of the Professional Midwifery Advocate (PMA). PMAs are expected to provide clinical supervision, professional development guidance, and leadership to midwives, ensuring mothers and babies receive care that is both safe and of the highest quality.
This course prepares you to become a Professional Midwifery Advocate, a role poised to support and lead the midwifery workforce.
The role of a Professional Midwifery Advocate (PMA) and use of A-EQUIP model (advocating for education and quality improvement) is part of the solution to supporting many of these issues.
The A-EQUIP model and the Professional Midwifery Advocate role aims to:
- Provide a supportive function
- Support professional resilience
- Support nurses to provide high quality care and identify areas for improvement
- Support the advocacy role of nurses
- Include strategies which develop and invest in nurses
- Allow flexibility for local implementation
- Not to create additional financial pressures on providers
During this 10-week course, you'll gain the skills and knowledge to facilitate restorative supervision for colleagues and teams within nursing services and beyond. You will be able to lead and deliver quality improvement initiatives in response to service demands and changing patient requirements.
Students undertaking this course will study online as self-paced study, predominantly by engaging with the online materials and activities provided in the virtual learning environment. There will be weekly online lectures delivered by the course tutor and PMA’s working in practice (which will be recorded and so can be watched later should any students not be able to attend the scheduled time slot). Students will also take part in weekly activities and engage with their tutor and peers through the online discussions.
Overall, including work, study, and self-paced learning, students will spend about 6 hours per week on the course with additional time required to complete the assignment towards the end of the 10 weeks of study.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Evaluate the role of the professional midwifery advocates in supporting midwives to provide high quality care through education and development
- Critically evaluate advocacy skills using restorative supervision to develop personal action for quality improvement
- Appraise the leadership of transformative changes, quality enhancements, and continuous improvements in midwifery practice
Course content
This course will cover:
- The role of the supervisor/Professional Midwifery Advocate within the context of national and local governance policies
- The role supervision plays in supporting nurses to consider their practice in relation to the Code and the requirements for revalidation
- The educational principles which facilitate effective supervision
- Supervision frameworks and models which can be used for understanding and managing the supervisory relationship
- Skills which underpin the setting up and development of a successful supervisory relationship, including setting ground rules, negotiating, and working in partnership
- A range of supervisory approaches and methods including facilitation, coaching, motivational interviewing, reflection, debriefing and managing challenging conversations
- Approaches to evidence-based practice and quality improvement to ensure people experience safe, compassionate, person-centred care including the concept of advocacy. Flows of compassion and self-compassion
- Ethical issues in clinical supervision which may affect the supervisory process for example, conflict of interest and maintaining professional boundaries
- Techniques and processes to evaluate the clinical supervision process, including eliciting and utilising feedback
- The need for on-going development of supervisory skills and for further reflection and updating of knowledge
Who this course is for
This single module online course is aimed at NMC-registered midwives who would like to develop into Professional Midwifery Advocates.
Course team
Programme Leader - Rukaiyya Muhammad
How you will learn
This module is delivered online and so you will undertake self-paced study via our virtual learning environment. This means that predominantly you will study the online learning material. This provides the flexibility to manage your studies around your existing work and home commitments.
You will engage with your tutors and fellow students via online discussion boards and there will be scheduled online lectures each Thursday throughout the module. All online lectures will be recorded so that, if you are not able to attend, you will be able to catch up later.
This module takes place over 10 weeks, and you will complete an academic assignment at the end of this period that you will submit on week 11.
Find out more about studying online.
Student support
Our student Wellbeing Service offers a range of support, advice and guidance for our students.
If you have an existing report in relation to specific learning needs from an educational psychologist, please indicate this in your application and you are then eligible for a support plan from the University.
Due to the length of this programme, students are not eligible for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) or for a support assessment to be undertaken by the University.
However, you will be eligible for support towards additional equipment via the Access to Work scheme. Please note that the process to secure this can take 12 weeks and so we recommend that you apply for this before you apply for the course.
This course is fully funded by NHS England. To request a funded place on the course please contact england.nursingpna@nhs.net who will provide approval for you to apply to study this course.
If you are a non-NHS employee or organisation, or work outside of NHS England please enquire to businessgateway@derby.ac.uk to explore further options.
To undertake this course, you must:
- be a Registered Midwife with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (hold a current registration)
- be Band 5 or above working in a patient-facing clinical role within a healthcare setting providing NHS-commissioned care
- be able to provide evidence of previous level 6 study (Bachelor’s degree level)
- be able to evidence completion of the Professional Clinical Nursing Leadership e-learning modules on the PMA role and the A-EQUIP model
You must discuss your participation with senior nurses in your organisation. Candidates are normally identified by NHS England.
Once NHS England have advised that you are eligible for a place on the course, you will be asked to apply to the University of Derby via the online application portal by clicking on the 'Apply now' on this page.
You will need to meet the entry criteria for the programme, as detailed above, in order for your application to be successful.
If you are currently studying a programme with us, you will not be able to study PMA as a second course as it is not possible to be enrolled onto two courses at the same time.
Apply directly to the University.
Apply now
For support with completing your application, view our guide to the application process.
If you want to find out more about studying a short course, please contact us and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
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