Liesbeth Kool

130 | Chapter 6 ..on the other side, what it brings you, not only financially, but from what the profession entails is what I actually miss [in NQMs]. That bit of enthusiasm and passion. So perhaps we as a professional group must show our [passion]: ‘'Look what a wonderful profession it is. (FG 2.2) Availability was mentioned by participants as value for working in continuity of care. Participants expected NQMs to be willing to gain work experience at, for them, inconvenient times. …NQMs have come up with a wish list, saying: 'Yes, I want Wednesdays and I want 12 o'clock, and I want week hours but not on Saturdays’, …. Then I think, you know. If you have a list like that, then you can indeed ask yourself how suitable you are for this profession. (FG 2.2) Participants perceived midwifery as a profession that must be learned through experience. Experienced midwives mentioned that NQMs must further develop their skills by learning from practical experiences. NQMs must learn to differentiate between working according to protocols versus tending to the needs of their clients. In their views, NQMs must learn to trust the physiological processes of pregnancies and childbirth. And they know those [protocols] off by heart, but the pitfall is that you then can't think creatively during childbirth. So, you have a childbirth that is not progressing well and then you [NQM] can't think of trying another position, we are going to try ... (FG 2.2) Participants mentioned that different personal characteristics of NQMs were demanding for their work in practice, e.g., the urge to prove oneself and perfectionism. Participants sometimes perceived NQMs as anxious in challenging situations and in need of reassurance from their colleagues. That fear; wanting to do well on the one hand, but on the other: ‘what if I do wrong, what will happen to me then?’ I think that that has increased explosively over the past two years. (FG 1.1) Transition into practice As shown in Figure 3, a distinction was made between the two different working contexts for NQMs in practice: community-based and hospital-based midwifery. The working context showed different tactics for socialisation in practice. Community-based practice

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