NET2019 - Responding to clinicians' concerns: Enhancing first year student midwives' communication skills in the undergraduate Midwifery programme

Strong links with clinical partners enabled concerns to be expressed regarding students’ ability to build a rapport with the women in their care. The communication aspect of the pre-registration curriculum was realigned to ensure that a multimodal approach was adopted, allowing for a greater synergistic link between theory and practice. This comprised summative simulation assessment with simulated patients (SP), formative peer review of each student’s interaction with the SP, summative reflective assignment on their communication skills and their development. Initial evaluation demonstrated that self-actualisation allowed for students to gain an awareness of their own development and learning needs.