MW3501 PHARMACOLOGY: MIDWIFERY PRACTICE

Module Details

Module Code

MW3501

Module Name

PHARMACOLOGY: MIDWIFERY PRACTICE

Module Short Title

ECTS weighting

5

Semester/term taught

Year 3 Michaelmas term

Contact Hours

Hours: 100 hours

Classroom: Lecture 23 hours Classroom: Small group learning 6 hours Classroom: Examinations 2 hours Directed learning 20 hours Independent learning 49 hours

Module Personnel

GALLAGHER, MS. LOUISE

Learning Outcomes

Following completion of this module, midwifery students will be able to: Demonstrate an understanding of the legal framework underpinning drug prescribing, administration and use in general and specifically in pregnancy, labour, the puerperium and neonatology; Demonstrate the ability to address all aspects relating to the storage and administration of medications in midwifery practice; Critically discuss the key components of a comprehensive drug history and the assessment and evaluation of a woman/baby in relation to the use of a drug(s); Critically discuss the role and responsibility of the midwife in relation to the use of common pharmacological preparations pre-pregnancy, during pregnancy, labour and the puerperium, in neonatology, in gynaecology settings and in emergency situations and access information on preparations that are less common; Critically discuss the range of non-pharmacological approaches (to include alternative and complementary therapies) used in midwifery practice and relate these to the role and responsibilities of the midwife; Critically discuss the impact of current legislation on the scope of midwifery practice in Ireland.

Module Learning Aims

The aim of this module is to enable midwifery students to gain knowledge of the issues surrounding the prescription, administration and use of medication within the context of normal childbirth. An understanding of the main groups and the factors that need to be considered before any medication is prescribed will be developed.

Module Content This module is focused around the student midwives development of knowledge in relation to pharmacology within the clinical setting. Their responsibility for drug administration and monitoring effects on the woman, fetus and baby will be emphasized. This module will provide student midwives with the knowledge to understand the actions, side effects and contraindications of pharmacological and non-pharmacological preparations in pregnancy and childbirth. In addition the use of complementary therapies in pregnancy and childbirth will also be examined Physiology of pain, pain stimulus, sensation and transmission; Theories of pain; Physiological responses to pain; Assessment and evaluation of the woman/baby related to the use of drug(s) during pregnancy, labour, puerperium; Pharmacological method of pain management – Opiates, Inhalation analgesia, Regional anaesthesia Complementary therapies – Homeopathy, Hydrotherapy, TENS Legislation - Misuse of Drugs Acts; An Bord Altranais guidelines; Safe storage and disposal Administration of medications vaginally, rectally and less common routes, IV cannulation

Recommended Reading

List

An Bord Altranais (2010) Practice Standards for Midwives. An Bord Altranais, Dublin. An Bord Altranais (2007) Guidance to Nurses and Midwives on Medication Management. An Bord Altranais, Dublin. Banister C. (2004) The Midwife's Pocket Formulary, 2

nd edn. Books for

Midwives, Edinburgh. Briggs G., Freedman R. & Yaffe, S. (2008) Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation: A Reference Guide to Fetal and Neonatal Risk, 8

th edn. Williams

& Wilkins, London. Johnson R. & Taylor W. (2010) Skills for Midwifery Practice, 3

nd edn.

Churchill Livingstone Edinburgh. Jordan S. (2010) Pharmacology for Midwives: the Evidence Base for Safe Practice, 2

nd edn. Palgrave, Basingstoke.

Lee A., Inch S. & Finnigan D. (2000) Therapeutics in Pregnancy and Lactation. Radcliffe, Oxford.

Assessment Details

MCQ

Academic Start Year

2006/07

Academic Year of Data

2014/15