Midwife
What the work is
Provides care and advice to women during pregnancy, labour and childbirth, and postnatal care for women and babies in a range of settings, such as the home, community, hospitals, clinics and health units.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Provides antenatal care to pregnant women, including physical examinations, monitoring of foetal development, and providing advice on nutrition and exercise
- Assists women during labour and childbirth, monitoring the progress of labour, and providing pain relief measures and medical interventions
- Provides postnatal care to women and newborns, including monitoring their health, providing lactation support and assisting with newborn care
- Educates and advises women and their families on pregnancy, childbirth and newborn care, promoting informed decision-making
- Identifies complications, and refers and collaborates with other Health Professionals to ensure comprehensive care for women and babies
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a birth unit and community clinic at a fictional regional hospital. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A first-time mum goes home confident because you took the time to show her
- You help a woman have the birth she hoped for, and she tells you so months later
- A quiet night shift where you sit with someone through a long labour and it goes well
Hard days
- Two women need you at once and you cannot be in both rooms
- Plans change in the middle of the night and you must explain why to a frightened family
- Long shifts, broken sleep and carrying the emotion of other people's biggest days
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 265131, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.