Becoming a midwife: A survey study of midwifery alumni.

Background: Becoming a competent midwife is a complex process. The aim of midwifery education is to support the development of competence in midwifery skills, knowledge and to prepare graduates to meet the responsibilities inherent in the midwifery role.

Aim: To explore the experiences of our alumni midwives, ask how well they perceived their midwifery programme had prepared them for beginning midwifery practice and to identify any curriculum changes, or postgraduate study topics, that would support the transition to midwifery practice.

Making midwifery work visible: The multiple purposes of documentation.

Background: Midwives have a professional, ethical and legal obligation to effectively and thoroughly document the care provided to women and the decisions made within the partnership relationship. To appreciate the best approach to documenting midwifery care, it is important to first understand the purpose of midwifery documentation.

Aim: The aim of this article is to explore the literature in relation to the purposes of midwifery documentation.

Effects of nicotine on perceptual speed.

Two experiments investigating the effects of nicotine on performance in the inspection time (IT) procedure are reported. Experiment 1 compared ITs in smoking (0.8 mg nicotine cigarette), sham-smoking, and no-smoking conditions.