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Midwifery Electives and Volunteer Placements
For any student or professional, seeing how midwifery is practiced in a developing country can be an incredible learning experience and one which gives you a very different perspective on your profession.
At whatever stage you are in your career or studies, you will get the opportunity to;
- Improve your understanding of global health challenges
- Take responsibility for improving the care of vulnerable people
- Learn new techniques
- Assist under-resourced healthcare providers
- Immerse yourself in fascinating cultures
- Share your knowledge of best practice
Volunteer Midwifery Placements
Projects Abroad makes a special effort to accommodate the skills of students and volunteers trained in midwifery. With the right approach, the staff in the institutions we work with can really benefit from sharing good practice from Australia, and there are many opportunities to improve the safety of women and their newborns.
Our volunteers work on:
- Diagnosing, monitoring and examining women during pregnancy.
- Developing, assessing and evaluating individual programmes of care.
- Supervising and assisting mothers in labour.
- Producing literature for new parents giving advice on the daily care of their baby, including breast feeding, bathing and making up feeds.
- Medical outreach programmes within nearby towns and villages.
- Working with existing staff to find ways of improving care standards.
- Observing and assessing the work of local trainee midwives.
- Coordinating outreach projects where available.
Of course a Projects Abroad internship is not all about work. Once you finish for the day there are always other volunteers around to meet up with, and our staff will arrange regular social events and even weekend trips for you to join in on.
Midwifery Electives and Experience for Students
The benefits of an overseas placement for a midwifery student are diverse. In a practical sense, you learn and grow as a professional through the placement: through exposure to new medical conditions, local nursing practices and relevant expertise. It is also thoroughly rewarding to be part of a team helping some of the poorest and most vulnerable populations around the world.
If you have a particular interest in one aspect of healthcare, an overseas volunteer placement is the perfect opportunity to receive exposure to it in the field. Just let us know what you are aiming for, and we will try and find a country and placement which provides the clinical experience that suits you. We work with busy maternity hospitals and rural clinics, as well working in the education of expecting mums and those who have new borns.
From the day of your arrival, you will come to see that the more proactive you are, the more hands-on responsibility you will be able to take on. Through observation, listening and using your own initiative, you can quickly become a valued member of the local team. This clinical experience will be invaluable to your current studies, and future career.
One of the most significant things you will be able to take home with you is the learning that comes from adapting to the culture of your new country. With local midwives as your co-workers, you get an amazing inside perspective on the role of midwifery in your placement country; an experience which can help clarify your future career ambitions.
Many of our student volunteers find time to help out in local orphanages and care centres too – which allows you to use your time on placement to really immerse yourself in the local culture and community. Examples of community work students have done, ranges from teaching local women how to breast feed to running first aid workshops for schools. Just ask us!