Becoming a midwife is one of the most rewarding careers that a person can have and offers more than just the chance to deliver babies. A midwife touches people’s lives and provides the opportunity to build excellent relationships with both the parents and children on the most wonderful days of their lifetime.

The course that you choose to do will vary between three to four years and provide you with not only theoretical experience including modules such as biological sciences, sociology and psychology but it will also give you a chance to have close up practical familiarity with pregnant women and their families.

In addition to the qualifications that you will need, the role of midwife will also require some skills and qualities in order to be professional, and suited to your career. A midwifes traits are usually expected to be kind, caring, flexible, independent, objective, non-judgemental and a few others that most people naturally possess from a young age.

As Midwives are dedicated to provide constant attention and assistance to the women in their care this could mean that your shifts will range from day to night duty and will require the need to travel between various locations including between the hospital and home.

As far as salary goes, a newly qualified midwife’s salary starts at £19,166.00 a year and will increase along with the experience and role of the midwife which creeps up to £60,880 if the midwife promotes into a consultant position.

There are many useful skills that you will learn from your midwifery course and these are not only communication and people skills but also the ability to problem solve, working with multi-agency teams, clinical skills, study skills and assessing various evidence.

However you must remember that to practise as a midwife you must first be registered with the nursing and midwifery council who maintains an updated register of midwives. If you are practising than you must contact and notify your intentions to do so each year so that they have a continued update.

Midwifery courses aim to produce highly skilled midwives who are safe, experienced, independent practitioners able to take on the world of maternity care.