Learning Primary Midwifery Care

Facutly Member: Elizabeth Allemang
Type: Learning Objectives 

Description: Learning Primary Midwifery Care is a package of three online learning modules for midwifery learners and teachers developed by the Ryerson University Midwifery Education Program in collaboration with faculty partners from Laurentian and McMaster Universities. These modules explore foundational concepts in midwifery clinical education, including primary care management, clinical decision making and care planning, and professional collaboration and consultation. Each module is organized into a sequence of three distinct “lessons” that review theory, clinical practice applications, and learning strategies. Opportunities for interaction, assessment and feedback are integrated into the modules in the form of quizzes, reflective practice exercises, case studies, mind mapping, and clinical practice tool development. Videos are included to demonstrate professional communication skills and to facilitate the sharing of learning and teaching tips by senior student midwives, midwifery practitioners and teachers, and interprofessional care providers.

These modules will be integrated as learning objects into online synchronous and asynchronous courses in the Midwifery Education Program curriculum. They may also be used as self-paced learning objects or remedial supports by students in community-based clinical placements. For faculty and clinical preceptors, they may be used as teaching tools or continuing education resources. These open access modules may be readily adapted by national and international midwifery education programs, and their focus on broad clinical concepts may make them of interest to interprofessional maternity care education programs in the fields of family medicine, obstetrics and nursing.

Elizabeth Allemang, RM, MA
Associate Professor, Midwifery Education Program

Elizabeth is a Registered Midwife with the College of Midwives of Ontario. She is an apprentice trained midwife who began practicing midwifery with the Midwives Collective of Toronto in 1986. She first became involved in midwifery education as a clinical preceptor in 1988, and later as an academic teacher in the Midwifery Education Program consortium in 1996. She was one of the first Co-Registrars with the College of Midwives of Ontario following the 1994 legal recognition of midwifery in Ontario.

Elizabeth is currently an Associate Professor in the Ryerson University Midwifery Education Program. She completed her Master of Arts degree at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto where her thesis focused on an oral history of midwives who practiced in Ontario prior to the enactment of midwifery legislation. Elizabeth's research interests include the clinical learning and teaching process, childbirth in popular culture, and the history of midwifery.