ELICITING THE VIEWS OF EXPERIENCED MIDWIVES ABOUT THE ASSESSMENT OF COMPETENCE IN MIDWIFERY

Objective: to investigate the views of the English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (ENB) Professional Midwifery Ad visory Network (PMAN) members about the assessment of competence in mi dwifery. Design: initial questionnaire followed by a group discussion of a summary of the data from the completed questionnaires. Participan ts: 54 PMAN midwives representing education, management, research, pra ctice and supervision; plus six ENB Education Officers (midwifery). Fi ndings: the response rate to the questionnaires was 75%. In the group discussion the PMAN members commented particularly on: the large numbe r of items identified as needing assessment in practice and by written work; lack of total agreement on the assessment in practice of normal delivery; differences in practitioners' perceptions of assessment; th e number and range of areas to be assessed; differences in expectation of 'task' assessment versus 'holistic' assessment; lack of assessment in simulation; heavy reliance on written work in assessment. Conclusi ons: the group's discussion of the questionnaire data revealed further interesting data, which added considerably to the initial analysis an d overview. Some participants had misinterpreted the instructions and found that what they had filled in did not accurately reflect their be liefs about assessment. General consensus was reached on the need for a national standard or framework for assessment and more emphasis to b e placed on assessing students in the practice setting whilst ensuring this includes knowledge and understanding and not merely psyche-motor skills. The major implications include effective preparation of asses sors and more teacher involvement in practice to support the midwife a ssessors.