The very first state examinations in the Midwifery Science programme at Furtwangen University
In the corridors of the O Building of Furtwangen University (HFU) in Luisenstraße in Furtwangen, you can currently meet pregnant women and women with babies on their arm. What looks like the former hospital has resumed operations, is actually the state examinations for the Midwifery Science degree programme. The first students to enter the study programme in 2021 are about to graduate. And the practical examinations were being held at HFU for the first time. 30 prospective midwives were examined for a whole week, a total of around six hours per person. Over 30 “actresses” and external examiners arrived for the complex examinations, and numerous additional models were borrowed to simulate real-life case situations.
“Organising the exams was a logistical challenge, as they took place on two floors and we had to make sure that the candidates had no opportunity to interact with each other,” says Prof. Dr. Christian Weidmann, Dean of Midwifery Studies at HFU. “On the first floor, the candidates receive their case file under supervision and draw up a treatment plan. This contains basic data on the scenarios. The prospective midwives then have to demonstrate their skills in the skills labs,” says course director Katharina Räuber-Dreier, explaining the rest of the process. The situations can be very different, but are all taken from everyday midwifery work. On Monday, the topics of midwifery care and assistance with pregnancy complaints were examined. On Tuesday, the babies − here in doll form − had now been born and the focus was on dealing with women in the postpartum period. “The birth is the most important and time-consuming part, so the students' exams are spread over three days,” emphasises Räuber-Dreier. For the exams to run as planned, numerous actresses are on site, most of whom are experienced midwives themselves who can present the scenarios very realistically. Furtwangen University has numerous skills labs for training future midwives, including a patient room and a delivery room with a birthing bathtub.
What is special about the Midwifery Science degree programme is that two qualifications are obtained at the same time. After passing the examinations, graduates are awarded the title “Bachelor of Science” and also become state-recognised midwives. The theoretical part of the state examination took place in the summer. “This is a degree with special requirements, and I would like to pay our first graduates a huge compliment. We can also see in the current examinations, the special commitment with which our midwives are heading towards their future profession,” says Weidmann.
More information about the Midwifery Science programme at HFU can be found here: Internal link opens in the same window:https://www.hs-furtwangen.de/en/studying-future/programmes/midwifery-science-bachelor