gms | German Medical Science

Background: The Midwifery Act (HebG 2019) and the Study and Examination Regulations for Midwives (HebStPrV 2020) prescribe the implementation of “practice supervision to an appropriate extent” (HebG, 2019, §17.1). The legal regulation provides that the mentor of the university supervises and assesses the students during the practice training and supports the mentor of the institution (cf. HebG 2019, §17.2). In order to meet the legal requirements, a mentorship concept was developed and implemented in the study programme Midwifery Science B.Sc. at the HS Gesundheit – University of Applied Sciences.

Aim: The mentorship concept aims to strengthen the theory-practice-transfer and to promote the acquisition of competences of the students in the dual study programme Midwifery Science within the framework of the practical study phases.

Methods: In the planned presentation, the development process and structured implementation of practical trainings during study process in one of the currently largest midwifery study locations in Germany with 88 students per academic year and twice-yearly study starts will be presented on the basis of a best-practice example. One of the special conceptual features is that all students complete practical parts in two different hospitals. In addition, the practical training concept takes into account the cooperation with in total 28 hospitals as responsible practical training institutions in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Results: In seven semesters, the students complete four practical modules, which are didactically framed by the comprehensive mentorship concept. The mentorship is carried out in the degree programme as a scientific service. The structure and acquisition of competences through the mentorship of the university are discussed in the different practical modules. In addition, the weekly consultation hours are presented. The module-specific practice booklet with learning and practical tasks is presented as an example, which serves as an orientation for students and the hospital and interlinks the both mentorships from university and institution. Further, it will be discussed how the study programme succeeds in cooperating with the numerous partners, which is indispensable for the successful implementation of mentorship at the university.

Relevancy: The described theory-practice-transfer is intended to improve the quality of study and teaching. In this, the implementation of a competence-based practice support concept plays a central role.

Conclusion: The systematic implementation of mentorship is an important basis for the required acquisition of competences in dual study programmes. Due to the continuity, the mentorship of university is individually tailored to the students and closely interlinked with the mentorship of the institution. A scientific evaluation of the presented mentorship concept is planned after the first successful graduation.

Ethics and conflicts of interest: A vote on ethics was not necessary. The research was financed by own resources. There are no conflicts of interest.

The PDF file of the poster submitted for the meeting is available in German as Attachment 1 [Attach. 1].