25 June 2009

Student midwife of the year graduates

An award-winning midwifery student will pick up another prize on Friday when she graduates from the University of Dundee.

Dundonian Paula Ringsell (37) received national recognition last year when she beat off nationwide competition from hundreds of peers to be named British Journal of Midwifery Student Midwife of the Year for her work studying the importance of women being given the opportunity to make informed choices about pregnancy and birth.

Having already had her fill of glittering award ceremonies, Paula should find the graduation event at the Caird Hall a walk in the park. She decided to study midwifery a few years ago having previously worked for Angus and Dundee City councils, and as a childminder.

In June 2008, her personal tutor Dr Andrew Symon informed Paula that the University were nominating her for The British Journal of Midwifery award. She says she was surprised to discover she had been nominated, and absolutely astounded when she was told she had won.

She heard the good news at an awards ceremony in Birmingham that she had travelled to with her mother Maureen Christie, daughter Paige, who is about to embark upon a Medicine degree at the University of Dundee, and colleague from the University, Lucy Moir.

She continued, 'It was a very posh affair and we felt like we were at the Oscars! When they announced that I had won the award it was the absolute icing on the cake, and that moment was undoubtedly the highlight of the course for me.'

'Since qualifying, I’ve secured a post with NHS Tayside and work in Ninewells Hospital, although I also do extra shifts in Montrose Maternity Unit whenever possible. This gives me an opportunity to consolidate my training and I love being a midwife.'

Paula was accepted onto the three-year Midwifery degree at Dundee after completing an HNC in Health and Social Care and hasn’t looked back since.

During her time at University, Paula took advantage of the flexible learning pathway, a system which allowed her to take the school holidays off to spend time with her children Paige (17) and Ross (9) on the condition she made up three months of missed placement time that she had missed at the end of the course.

'Having the holidays off was fantastic, and I would encourage anyone with children to take advantage of this system,' she said.

'I remember how daunting my first day at University was. My initial feeling was that everyone seemed to know so much more than me and I began to think I wouldn't have the academic ability the course required.'

'I settled down quickly though and soon realised that I could cope very well. My first placement was at the award-winning Montrose Maternity Unit and the time I spent there helped shape my vision of how midwifery should be.'

'The midwives there believe that birth is a normal physiological event in a woman's life and they strive to keep it that way. Although I went on to have other placements in different clinical areas, I always kept the same ethos of the Montrose midwives.'

'I realised that some women would benefit from a group which could offer them unbiased, evidence-based information that would allow them to make an informed choice regarding their pregnancy and the birth of the child.

'This led me to starting a birth-choices support group where women can come once a month and decide which topics they would like to discuss.'

Paula took her elective placement in London alongside the Albany Midwives, a renowned group of independent practitioners based in Peckham. Here, the midwives care for women right from the start of pregnancy, throughout labour, birth and the postnatal period, allowing a relationship to build up between a woman and her midwife and this experience also profoundly influenced Paula’s attitude to midwifery.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk