KOO Yuen Yuk, Michelle
The newly commenced course of MSc in Obstetric Care by CUHK is a milestone in Midwifery Education in Hong Kong. It enhances the development of midwifery professions, increases the quality of registered midwives, and widens the field of vision in global midwifery practice. The course is different from other master courses in nursing, as it focuses on midwifery professions, by exposing students to more advanced midwifery knowledge, skills, and experiences. The fruitful course content includes taught lectures by experienced staff and famous oversea guest speakers in midwifery, clinical practicum, skill practice, as well as optional oversea hospital visit which is a very good opportunity for us to broaden our vision. Although life becomes very busy after studying this course, it is good to have such a wonderful study experience because of its extraordinary content in midwifery and obstetric care! I really enjoy so much during the time with my lovely and brilliant classmates and I will encourage my colleagues and friends to apply the next class, especially it becomes MSc in Obstetric and Midwifery Care in next year! So Cool!
LAM Lai Chun
去年這時候，我作出了人生中一個重要的決定 – 要不要報讀這個關於產科護理碩士課程呢？腦海裡總是思前想後、心中總是多翻掙扎。放下書本已十多年，想起要做功課、温書、考試等，自己仍能應付得來嗎？要讀碩士課程，各院校也有推出各種不同的課程選擇，而課程的內容、時間的長短、價錢等等各方面亦是考慮因素。 而這課程又是第一次舉辦，且又這麽專業，確實需要嗎？
就先聽聽這課程的簡報會再作考慮吧。聽過後，並沒有任何藉口給自己了。理由是課程的內容相當豐富，不但有理論，也有臨床觀察，亦可選擇到海外參觀及交流，更保貴的是能夠邀請各地著名的教授，分享經驗及提供最新的資訊與我們討論。不但能擴闊視野，更能活學活用在我們工作上，實是獲益良多！
轉眼間已過了一年，而我們並朝向畢業的日子倒數，實有依依不捨的感覺。在此，多謝導師、教授和各工作人員對我們的教導、啓發及幫忙！
LEE Yuen Yi
For seven years I remember, I have dreamed of a university in Hong Kong to organize master for midwifery. I love to update my knowledge on midwifery practice and continue the development of hands–on practice.
At first, the course toke almost one week of whole day classes and needed to take annual leave of my own, but I remained enthusiastic. New things of midwife began to get really interesting and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Although the days were long and hard, the course filled me with pride. It confir.med and reinvigorated my love of midwifery. I feel more engaged as a midwife and this great joy grows with time.
TSANG Mei Ling, Sonia
I am glad to be studying in this master course. It is more fruitful than I expected before. Last year, the most valuable experience for me was learning ultrasonography interpretation in morphology scan during on-site visit. I was updated with advanced and latest technology in midwifery care, e.g. STAN, IVF, Labor Pro Machine, etc. There was also an overseas exchange program which widened our horizons in advanced obstetric practice worldwide. The course provided a platfor.m for midwives in Hong Kong to meet and S.Hare their nursing practice, too. To conclude, this master course is definitely just “more than lectures”.
Ms. LAI Chit Ying
Deputy Programme Director
MSc in Obstetric and Midwifery Care
Thanks to the liaison of Professor Soo Downe and the thoughtful arrangement of University of Central LancaS.Hire, our master students had a very fruitful experience during this one week hospital visit. We are especially appreciated with the university midwifery lecturer, NeeS.Ha Ridley, Anna Byrom, Kerry Taylor who cared us throughout this week.
We have visited different places for childbirth including hospital, alongside birth centre and free standing birth centre. On one hand we are proud of our advanced technology standard in Hong Kong which is comparable to those in UK. On the other hand we admire the beautiful facilities in the birth centre which offer families a relaxed environment where they can start their journey into parenthood. UK midwives have a very high degree of autonomy in caring nor.mal low risk pregnant women.
We feel the passion of the midwives who endeavour in promoting nor.mal birth, initiating early skin to skin contact and adopting different complementary therapies for women to go through this birth journey. We visited the one to one midwifery service which conducted hypnobirthing classes for couples. This is a program to empower women and their partners to be more in Cont rol of their birth experience by mental rehearsal and Cont rolled breathing during the antenatal period. This inspires us very much in supporting women to have better preparation for the childbirth.
In future, we hope we can develop collaborative relationS.HiP-S with overseas university. This overseas hospital will be continued and it is for sure beneficial to students.
Finally, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to all midwives in East LancaS.Hire teaching hospitals, Blackburn birthcentre and one to one midwifery service. Without their effort, this visit could not come true.
LEE Pandora
This master course is well beyond my expectation. It covers a wide range of topics from lactation, nor.mal birth, leadership and advanced technology in obstetric and midwifery care. The overseas speakers are experts and specialists in advanced midwifery issues. The overseas visit in UK that is jointly organized by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Central LancaS.Hire has visualized what I have learnt during lectures. I gain the opportunities to visit different birth centers. I am inspired when seeing how the midwives in UK safeguard nor.mal birth and keep the women away from medicalization. Besides, they remind me of the special collaborative relationS.Hip between midwives and women. This overseas visit also exp-ands my horizon of different midwifery practices. The most memorable moment of this visit is the S.Haring session of one to one midwifery care by a community midwife. This S.Haring session is about home birth. Home birth is a new concept for the midwife and women in HK. Through the S.Haring session, I gain a deeper understanding of how the home birth service runs and the philosophy behind this service. Overall, I would say the overseas visit in UK is a fruitful one.
KOO Yuen Yuk, Michelle
TSANG Wan Chi, Cyrena
It was an amazing and wonderful trip! During the time in England, we had visited different Birth Centers in different settings in LancaS.Hire, including Midwife-Led Birth Unit within obstetric units, the free-standing Midwife-Led Birth Centers and One-to-One Midwifery Service, which we have never seen before. Also, we had massive discussion and S.Haring on midwifery practice with colleagues in England, focusing on nor.mal birth, the political and social environment towards childbirth in England and in Hong Kong. The different settings of birth units, as well as the career pathway in midwifery and its professional development were also discussed. We had a great time in LancaS.Hire with our lovely tour coordinators, NeeS.Ha and Anna, along with all of the enthusiastic midwives in England who were all very kind and willing to S.Hare their experiences in midwifery practice! This trip was excellent not only because it provided a chance for us to broaden our horizon towards nor.mal birth, but also gave us a meaningful and enjoyable summer break! We enjoyed and learned a lot during our time in UK and no wonder it would be one of the most meaningful study triP-S in our lives. We do hope we could bring the new ideas home and soon those good midwifery practices could be adopted in our work place in the near future.
LAI Mei Ki, Maggie
The UK hospital visit was a five-day programme. We visited many local colleges and birthing centres like the University of Central LancaS.Hire, the obstetric units of LancaS.Hire Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, East LancaS.Hire Hospital NHS Trust and the Blackburn Birth Centre NHS Choices.
During this trip, we were introduced a new concept of midwifery service – the One to One Midwifery service. The women who gave birth in these units report high level of satisfaction with the midwives’ sincere care, particularly on the practical advice and continue care that they received. This service has really enriched my knowledge and widened my vision about my profession.
Moreover, I am highly appreciated to have this opportunity to explore more about the special care for an expectant mother with nor.mal birth and the pros and cons of water birth. The visit has also given me so many inspirations and I am passionate in those midwifery and obstetric practices.
I highly recommend this UK hospital visit to you.
LAM Kit Yee
Our hospital visit tour started on 8 June. When the plane landed on that morning, I was much excited as we finally arrived at UK after months of preparation. I could not wait to S.Hare midwifery practices with oversea experts and also I enjoyed sightseeing in the lovely cities of Manchester and Preston much. We received war.m welcome and hospitality from the university staff members and the midwives of various institutions. We also paid visits to various birth centres and an one-to-one midwifery service. I was much inspired by their midwifery arts and skills in facilitating their women to de-liver a natural birth. It was definitely a good learning experience for me! Don’t miss this tour in the next master course.
LEE Pui Yee
This summer, we joined the hospital visit in United Kingdom. It’s inspired me a lots about the natural birth. The most impressive itinerary in this trip was the visit of One to One Midwifery Center. The service let the pregnant women receive the antenatal care, de-livery and postnatal care at home, and the midwives will come and provide the antenatal and postnatal visit at the pregnant women’s living place instead of hospital. Both midwives and expectant mothers feel satisfactory in the de-livery after trying. Even the women would like to de-liver her baby in hospital, there are many kinds of choice. The birth position and non-phar.macy pain relief are also provided.
In the past, I’m a staff who always follows the department guide-lines. After the tour, everything opens my mind to think more about our practice today. I highly recommend joining the master course and the hospital visit. It is worth to do so.
TSE Chui S.Han
It was glad that we got the opportunity to visit the hospitals in UK. During the UK hospital visit, we had the tour in maternity units in hospital setting, community setting and even the home birth service provider. The maternity care system in UK focused on midwifery care, which is really different from that in HK focused on obstetric care. They see pregnancy as a nor.mal process in women’s life and try their best to promote natural birth. Although we learned much about nor.mal birth in our midwifery training, it is difficult for us to fully utilize it in our health care system. I highly recommend our midwifery colleagues joining the hospital visit in the future. It has broadened our horizons and let us learn how to support nor.mal birth and respect women’s choice in de-livery planning. It is fruitful and is a valuable experience.
WOO Kam Fong
Although the overseas hospital visit is an optional attachment in the master course, it really enriches the whole course. We had a wonderful time meeting with the other culture midwives and S.Hared the experience. They pay more efforts in education and support to help women in every aspect of their pregnancy. The birth practice is more natural. Less medical interventions are applied. Some birth centers are independent and well equipped to promote the water birth which is not well developed in Hong Kong. I was impressed by the hypnosis service which was provided at the unique local community service which works in partnerS.Hip with the NHS. I can see the other mode of service in all-rounded and high quality maternity care. I really recommend the UK hospital visit.