Written by Emily Paget, Research Midwife
I began my career in Midwifery in 2009, after working as an adult nurse in intensive care and completed my midwifery degree at De Montfort University, Leicester. After qualifying, I moved to West Yorkshire, undertaking my preceptorship at St James’ University Hospital in Leeds before working as a Band 6 rotational midwife at Calderdale Royal Infirmary. Here, I gained experience across a range of settings, including triage, induction suite, the birth centre, labour ward and the antenatal/postnatal wards.
In December 2019, I started working as a lecturer in midwifery at the University of Leeds. Three months later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and disrupted everything including both clinical practice and education. This experience shaped my research interests, particularly in how digital technologies can support meaningful learning and influence learner behaviours in midwifery education.
In August 2021, I started working at the University of Bradford as an Assistant professor in Midwifery. Here I co-created a postgraduate module in Enhanced Maternal Care and led on a £1 million Midwifery Simulation Project to transform the existing teaching facilities. The project created opportunities to further embed simulation supported by digital technologies across programmes, improving the range of midwifery teaching and student experience.
This led me to my research focus- understanding how immersive simulation, facilitated by digital technologies, can influence patient safety behaviours and how this impacts clinical practice.
My journey with NIHR began last year with an NIHR Patient Safety Research Collaboration (PSRC) Development Award. During this time, I undertook a pilot study using a small educational grant which focused on learner engagement and barriers to implementation of VR/AR simulation in undergraduate healthcare education. The findings of this study found some key implementation factors relevant for wider doctoral research which included digital literacy, infrastructure challenges and how this modality could impact on learning. The experience also helped my continuing development as a researcher in designing and conducting research, gaining feedback and adapting to mitigating factors.
The PSRC award has also enabled meaningful Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) and development of my own personal skills in this area, leading to the development of a regional stakeholder group. Ongoing work with this group, including focus groups with recent maternity service users, ensures the research remains grounded in lived experience and what matters most to those receiving care.
Following the PSRC award, I began an NIHR Pre-Doctoral Fellowship to develop as a mixed methods researcher. Within this I have had the opportunity to undertake a bespoke training programme in mixed methods research including masters courses, training, international conference attendance and to build on the ongoing development from my PSRC award. I have also submitted my first peer reviewed academic paper with two further studies currently in progress. One of these focuses on the use of immersive simulation in midwifery programmes in higher education across the UK and the other is looking at the relationship between immersive simulation supported by digital technologies and patient safety behaviours. The findings of these will shape my NIHR doctoral application.
This journey to become a midwifery researcher, reflects how experiences across clinical practice and education can shape passions, develop interests and refine a research focus over time. International Day of the Midwife is a day which highlights the strength of the midwifery community, bringing people together across practice, education, and research with a shared commitment to women, babies, and families.
Emily Paget
