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Postgraduate Diploma in Midwifery Science

Course code/s: Bendigo (RPMS), Melbourne (HPMS)

This course will be offered dependent upon sufficient enrolments.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Midwifery Science is a one-year full-time, 120 credit point award, with teaching conducted at both the Bendigo and Melbourne (Bundoora) campuses. It is designed to enable appropriately qualified and experienced nurses to undertake studies in midwifery leading to eligibility to apply for registration as a Midwife with the Nursing & Midwifery Board of Australia.

The course is designed to prepare graduates to:

• practise midwifery within a framework of wellness and thus perceive the birthing process as a normal event;
• assess, plan, implement and evaluate family-centred midwifery care;
• recognise any deviation from normal during pregnancy, labour and the post-birth period and to initiate appropriate action;
• demonstrate an attitude which is conducive to personal and professional development and which will be beneficial to midwifery care and the profession;
• be aware of the midwife’s responsibility to assist women and their families to participate in decisions about their care;
• effectively collaborate and consult with women, other health professionals and the community to ensure services to child-bearing families remain relevant and appropriate;
• evaluate contemporary research and incorporate appropriate research findings into midwifery practice.

Admission requirements

This course is open to registered nurses who hold a degree or a diploma and have at least one year’s recent acute nursing experience. Applicants must be a Registered Nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. A place in this program is dependent upon the applicant having a clinical place at an approved clinical midwifery agency in either the metropolitan or regional areas.

International students, whose first language is not English, will require a proficiency level of at least 6.5 on the English Language Testing system (IELTS) or 575 in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).  Please note that the NMBA has set an English Language Skills standard of IELTS 7 in each of the four components - listening, reading, writing and speaking. For further information about these requirements please visit the NMBA website.

Course structure

The course is undertaken in one year full-time study only. All subjects are worth 20 credit points. The program timetable offers a combination of block and online modes. Clinical requirements of the course must be achieved prior to completion of the program.

Teaching period	Subject code	Subject title	Credit Points
TE-SEM-1	MID4PES	Pregnancy in Midwifery Practice	20
TE-SEM-1	MID4NOB	Normal Birth in Midwifery Practice	20
TE-SEM-1	MID4PMB	Postnatal Care of Mother and Baby	20
TE-SEM-2	MID4TCN	The Complex Neonate	20
TE-SEM-2	MID4CTB	Challenges to Birth in Midwifery Practice	20
TE-SEM-2	NSG4CAU	Clinical Audit	20

Clinical Requirements

In order to meet the learning outcomes of the course and qualify to apply for Midwifery registration, students need to undertake 88 days (704-hours) of clinical placement which equates to approximately 3-days per week, throughout the year. In addition, there are specific clinical requirements that have to be achieved during this time, in order to apply for Midwifery registration.