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Becoming a midwife: working with pregnant women, giving birth to children
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It was a few days before Christmas, in the middle of the night.
Sophia Reinhardt was sitting next to a pregnant woman, breathing deeply in and out with her.
She still remembers the first birth, which she managed independently three years ago: "It was so beautiful and safe," says
Reinhardt.
Luise Schmitt also had many beautiful births.
Once, she says, the parents even named the baby after her.
Schmitt and Reinhardt both become midwives, but they have chosen two completely different paths.
While Schmitt is completing an apprenticeship at the midwifery school in Frankfurt am Main, Reinhardt studied midwifery at the Fulda University of Applied Sciences and is now starting a master's degree in the winter semester.
Becoming a midwife: one job, three ways
For a long time there was only one way to become a midwife in Germany: training.
But it is getting on in years.
The midwifery law on which the training is based is from 1985. Within the EU, the German qualification is no longer recognized, other countries have long since switched to university training.
Since January 1, 2020, the following also applies in Germany: Anyone who wants to become a midwife must complete a bachelor's degree.
But with this new regulation, the effort of the change is just beginning.
The concept for the future is a dual course of study, according to a new midwifery law, the completion of which meets EU standards.
But establishing a new course of study takes time.
So-called model courses are already offered at around 30 universities in Germany.
However, like the training, they are still based on the old midwifery law and must therefore be converted.
Some universities will do this as early as autumn 2020, others not until 2021, and still others will have to completely rebuild the course.
So that there are no bottlenecks in midwifery training, a transitional regulation has been decided: You can also start training as a midwife by the end of 2022.
In other words: There are currently three ways to become a midwife.
A situation that unsettles trainees and interested parties.
Which path should you go right now?
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Midwifery student Luise Schmitt
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Training
Luise Schmitt is in her third year at the Carl Remigius Midwifery School in Frankfurt am Main.
The 33-year-old goes to school one day a week and works in the clinic the other day.
She had already completed her studies and chose training to become a midwife as quickly as possible.
Schmitt found the eleven weeks of day school that she spent in a birthing center particularly instructive.
But in addition to assignments in the delivery room, in the operating room and on the ward for premature babies, trainees also complete practical stations that Schmitt could not quite understand, as she says.
For example, she had to work on the nursing ward for twelve weeks.
"I found that pretty blatant in relation to the short delivery room use, because there was simply no reference to midwifery training."
And something else struck her negatively during her apprenticeship: "Some doctors and midwives let you feel in the delivery room that you are the bottom link in the chain."
Colleagues from Italy, where studies have been compulsory for a long time, would be more respected.
Although Schmitt decided to do the training, she is of the opinion: "The course is important to strengthen our profession."
more on the subject
Education Minister Karliczek: "An apprenticeship is just as good as a degree"
Julian Nida-Rümelin sees it a little differently.
As a professor of philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, he has been dealing for years with what he calls the "academization mania" of apprenticeships.
Instead of commercial vocational training, many companies now focus on business administration studies, and the carpentry trade is now facing competition from the wood technology course.
Nida-Rümelin fears that vocational training as a strength of the German education system will be weakened by academization.
Instead, he advocates making vocational training fit for the future: "This includes a stronger inclusion of general educational content and basic scientific competence. This undoubtedly also applies to the training of midwives."
The model study
Even some practicing midwives are not yet convinced that studying is really necessary.
Sophia Reinhardt made this experience when she completed the model course in midwifery at the Fulda University of Applied Sciences.
During her wards in the delivery room, she sometimes encountered skepticism, especially from experienced midwives, says the 23-year-old: "They are so inveterate in practice and don't understand why you have to approach it so scientifically."
Nevertheless, Reinhardt finds a degree meaningful - "solely because it teaches you to critically question existing patterns in the delivery room".
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Master's student Sophia Reinhardt
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Similar to Luise Schmitt in her apprenticeship, Sophia Reinhardt also learned everything about pregnancy and childbirth in model studies.
From the second semester onwards, she alternated between a week at the university and a week in the clinic; the semester break was full of internships.
In addition, she learned methods of scientific work as well as theoretical concepts for family support and national goals of the Ministry of Health.
In a seminar, they even created their own business plan in case they want to work independently later, says Reinhardt.
Contents that are not included in the training in this depth.
Or would you prefer to wait for the dual study program?
The model courses will not be around for long, soon they will be replaced everywhere by the dual course.
How it works, what advantages and disadvantages it has, no one can yet report.
The first courses will start in autumn, many not until the coming year.
Is it worth waiting for?
Or should you rather complete an apprenticeship quickly while you can?
Cordula Fischer, director of the midwifery school in Heidelberg, is still convinced: "You don't have to study to be a good midwife."
But she also sees clear advantages of the academic path: "Studying makes sense because it opens up more opportunities to get involved in the discussion and design of care processes. Mother, child and families also benefit from this." Midwives are increasingly confronted with complex issues who need broader background knowledge.
In the course of training, you acquire well-founded specialist theoretical knowledge - but there is a lack of time and resources for solid scientific discussion and reflection.
Fischer also hopes that the course will mean that midwives will be heard more in specialist discussions.
In general, the hierarchy between midwives and doctors can be flattened with a degree, she says.
At the University of Lübeck, for example, students of medicine and midwifery studies give joint lectures.
A good concept, says Fischer: "If you learn to talk to each other then, you can do it better later in practice."
Yvonne Bovermann, adviser for the education sector of the German Midwives Association, sees at most one argument for starting an apprenticeship now: In many places there is still no plan for new courses.
If you want or have to start studying or school soon, you may not necessarily have a choice in your region.
With a view to the future, Bovermann sees the advantages of the academic path outweighing it.
In addition to the classic career path as a midwife, a master's degree for management activities can also be followed by a degree.
"And whoever wants can go into research."
And so perhaps contribute to the further development of the traditional profession of midwife.
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