Midwifery Practice Experience (MPE)

MPE may occur across a range of practice contexts, reflecting the diversity of contemporary midwifery care.

Settings include, but are not limited to:

• Public and private maternity units
• Antenatal and postnatal wards
• Birth suites
• Continuity of care and midwifery group practice models
• Community based and primary health care services
• Rural, remote and regional maternity services
• Special Care Nursery and neonatal services
• Women’s health and sexual health services

Variation in MPE progression:

Students may experience different models of care, scopes of service and levels of complexity depending on placement location. Variation in exposure is expected and consistent with ANMAC (2021) Midwife accreditation standards.

Students must complete the required minimum clinical experiences and hours to be eligible for registration as a midwife. These requirements are specified in Standard 3.13 of the ANMAC (2021) Midwife accreditation standards.

The table below summarises the required experiences.

A detailed breakdown of how these experiences are distributed across years and subjects is provided in Courses & Requirements and related PDFs.

Attendance at MPE is a mandatory course requirement.

Students must:

• complete 100% of allocated MPE hours
• not reduce, substitute or waive MPE hours
• be punctual, prepared and fit for practice for every rostered shift
• report absences to the clinical facility and JCU according to published absence procedures
• understand that approved absences may result in allocation of Clinical Completion Hours.

Failure to meet attendance requirements may result in placement interruption, deferred progression or inability to complete the course.

For detailed guidance, see the Guideline for absences from MPE  and Flowchart

Further details can be accessed via Policies & Safety.

For further information regarding  PPR's please follow this link: Pre-Placement Requirements (PPR)

At James Cook University, the following terminology is used:

Midwifery practice experience (MPE) refers to all clinical learning undertaken within the midwifery component of the BNSc–BMid or BMid programs.

Professional experience placement (PEP) refers to clinical placement undertaken within the nursing component of the BNSc–BMid program.

Both involve supervised practice learning, but MPE and PEP are governed by different professional standards and assessment frameworks.

For course-specific details see Courses & Requirements.

Students undertaking MPE are rostered in alignment with local maternity service requirements and relevant industrial agreements. JCU aligns student rostering principles with the Nurses and Midwives (Queensland Health and Department of Education) Certified Agreement (EB12) 2025, including fatigue management and safety considerations.

Key principles include:

• students may work a maximum* of 12 hours in a single shift
• a 12-hour shift must be followed by a minimum* break of 10 hours
• students must not work beyond safe practice limits
• rosters should reflect learning objectives and supervision availability
• students must notify supervisors and JCU if fatigue or safety concerns arise.

*exemption may arise within individual facilities and models of care

Clinical partners and clinical assessors retain responsibility for ensuring student practice occurs within safe and supervised parameters.

Year planners and detailed rostering guidance are available via Courses & Requirements

Continuity of care experiences are a required and distinct component of midwifery education and complement scheduled MPE. Through CoCE, students:

• establish ongoing professional relationships with women
• participate in antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care
• gain insight into woman-centred, partnership-based midwifery models.

CoCE are supervised and documented separately from rostered MPE shifts but are essential to meeting ANMAC Midwife accreditation standard requirements.

For further information regarding CoCE requirements and sequencing please review Courses & Requirements