An Exploration of Midwifery Students’ Experiences of their Internship Period during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: Clinical practice experience is an integral component of all midwife registration education programmes and is crucial in preparing midwifery students to become safe, competent, kind, compassionate practitioners. To prepare for autonomous practice, midwifery students undertake a 36-week internship in the final year of the programme. Students have previously identified internship as a stressful time, providing care in increasingly complex cases and meeting academic deadlines (Bradshaw et al., 2018). In recent times, students
have had to complete their internship in the midst of a global COVID-19 pandemic.
Objective: To explore midwifery students’ experiences of the internship period in the final year of their midwifery programme which coincided with the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Methods: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted utilising online focus groups (n=4). Midwifery students (n = 15) on the BSc Midwifery programme across two clinical practice sites in one Higher Education Institute (HEI) in Ireland participated following ethical approval.
Results: Four overarching themes were identified: 1. Fear and uncertainty of internship in the context of a pandemic, 2. Consequences of COVID-19 within the clinical environment; 3. Student supports and 4. Opportunities and challenges during internship.
Conclusions: Working within a healthcare environment dominated by the presence of COVID-19 had significant consequences for the students, their caregiving and for the women and families. Students were challenged
with managing increased responsibilities and wearing of PPE, which is an impediment to caregiving. Students had to balance their need to progress to autonomous practice, whilst acknowledging their needs as learners.
COVID-19 brought unexpected benefits, which included enhancing students’ ability to develop relationships with women in their care, and students had a greater sense of belonging within the midwifery team. Midwifery students valued the support given through Protective Reflective Time (PRT) in the HEI and Clinical Placement Co-ordinators (CPC’S) on placements