FSH Graduate Midwifery program study to retain newly qualified midwives

Ten years into her career, Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) midwife Bronwyn plans to have a lengthy career in her profession that ensures the health and wellbeing of women and their babies. For her colleagues however, a recent national survey revealed that 36.6 per cent of midwives planned to leave their profession in the early years of practicing.

Bronwyn said it is the support from her colleagues that has helped her tenure, but she recalls the transition from student midwife to graduate midwife as being daunting.

“What helped me in my Graduate Midwifery Program (GMP) was the supportive coordinator I had; she was approachable and readily available to debrief or ask questions of to assist in my development.” Bronwyn is now proud to support other junior midwives in her role supporting graduates at FSH and is assisting on a new study underway to assess and optimise graduate midwives’ intention to stay in the profession.

In the hope of retaining more new ‘grad’ midwives, South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS) Honorary Research Consultant of Nursing and Midwifery, Dr Sara Bayes (pictured below), is leading the new research to provide an insight into the best design and implementation of a GMP that will assist in the retention of staff.

“For many newly qualified midwives, their first year of practice is often completed within a GMP, however these programs can vary widely,” Dr Bayes said.

“Research about graduate midwife retention recommends how maternity services need to support this group to retain them, however few GMPs reflect this research, so we are undertaking this study to design and test a novel GMP based on evidence about what newly qualified midwives need and want.

Midwifery managers, educators like Bronwyn and current graduates will be involved in the program’s design and evaluation, assessing its effectiveness, implementation and impact on five outcomes for graduates who complete it, including reality shock, sense of feeling supported, perceived professional competence and confidence, satisfaction with their practice environment, intention to stay in their job and in midwifery, and their personal and professional well-being.

“We want the FSH Graduate Midwifery Program to be based on best evidence to support what newly qualified midwives want and need from their first year of practice, and in turn to maximise the likelihood that these newcomers to the profession stay with us long into the future,” Dr Bayes said.  

“It is vital that we retain our new midwives to prevent a shortage, as with the current workforce comprising many ‘baby boomers’ reaching retirement age, attrition of the midwifery workforce is predicted to continue for the next decade,” Dr Bayes said.

The research project commenced in September this year, with completion expected by end of April 2027. Funding was provided by an Edith Cowan University Vice Chancellor’s Professorial Research Fellowship awarded to Dr Sara Bayes. Dr Bayes is being supported in this project her by the SMHS team; FSH Clinical Midwife and Midwifery Educator Bronwyn Dewar, FSH Acting Coordinator of Service 3 Leanne Graham, and SMHS Honorary Research Consultant and ECU Associate Dean of Midwifery Dr Di Bloxsome, alongside Head of Midwifery at Curtin University Professor Mary Steen, and Senior Lecturer in Midwifery at The University of Notre Dame Dr Sheena McChlery.

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