LadyLauren

Hello,

DH and I are wanting to make the move to Oz a year or two after I graduate and I want to use my elective placement to see if I like the way midwifery care is provided there. I obviously know that in the past, it has been described as obstetric-led and the midwives are essentially used as obstetric nurses, but this is changing to midwife-led care in pockets across the country.

Anyhoo, I have contacted various organisations and hospitals in WA to try and organise something and I am getting nowhere. I either don't get any response (despite chasing) or I get an email with a one liner, refusing to discuss a placement and not giving a reason either - it's so frustrating! I honestly have no idea if the emails & messages are getting 'lost' in the system somehow, or if I'm not contacting the right people, but it is what it is.

Are there any practising midwives in WA that could help me with getting my foot in the door for a placement? It would literally be only for a week or two and I understand it would just be observational. If anyone would like to post or PM me with any contact details for me to try, it would be eternally appreciated.

TIA.

Dorothy

If you're interested in doing an elective placement in WA while you're still a student overseas I'm not surprised that you're not getting anywhere. There are limited placement spots for those of us who are studying at Australian universities. I'm also not surprised that the hospitals will not communicate with you. That's what your university's placement unit is for. Even the hospital where I work won't speak to me about me doing placement there - everything to do with placements has to be done through the university's placement office (school of nursing & midwifery) liaising with the hospital's overseas placement coordinator.

Contact your university placement office and ask them to arrange it.

LadyLauren

Thanks Dorothy - your response is really interesting. At my particular UK university (other UK ones may be different, I don't know), for your third year elective placement, the oness is completely on the student to make their own arrangements. Sure, they have contracts in place for overseas locations, but they forge no affiliation with overseas units, nor do they do the leg work - at my uni, that would be classed as spoon-feeding. I would love them to do everything for me! I know of UK-based students getting electives in Australia so I know it can be done, but the big mystery now is how?

Dorothy

The hospital I work in (WA gov't hospital) won't have elective students, especially overseas, without them going through the elective placements office. If I remember tomorrow I'll ask the placement office who you should be speaking to. I'll PM you with her details if she ok's it.

LadyLauren

Thank you - anything that can give me a nudge in the right direction would be hugely appreciated.

Shenni

I was going to offer the same advice about placement office and they would also have the information as to which hospitals would be able to help, my uni placements were 9 or 12 weeks and it was not just observational but hands on . I could not get Qld as they were in the same situation as WA .....not enough places about but Victoria mental health offered jobs at the end of training if you did a placement successfully there, but as I am originally from Vic and have no desire to return I did not take it up but know of other students who did ......... I have a feeling that midwifery would be the same

Shenni

My uni gave us the contact details and who to contact but did not keep it up to date so a lot of the contacts were well out of date .......... try Victoria as it no longer matters where you work there as registration is nation wide

daunted

St John of God Hospital in Bunbury, WA is a teaching hospital...could be worth a go?