Given that midwifery learners form an important part of the healthcare team while on clinical placement, and given that:
- midwives may work at any time of the day during a 24-hour period,
- learners may need to attend at multiple offices and hospitals during a single placement,
- clinical placements may include home labour assessments, home births, and home postpartum visits,
- community work may send learners over large areas both urban and rural,
- public transport, taxi, ride- and car-sharing can be unreliable or sparse in many areas, especially in rural communities,
- there may be client safety concerns if the learner is acting as the second attendant at the birth, and is delayed in arriving at the site of the birth, and
- there may be safety concerns with using public transport, taxi or ride- or car-sharing services, especially at night
It is imperative that learners are able to meet expectations related to punctuality, attendance and participation not only in academic settings, but especially while on clinical placements.
It is an expectation of the Midwifery program that learners will arrive punctually for all elements of their clinical placements, especially, but not limited to home visits and home births, and that learners will arrive promptly for clinics or hospital rounds, regardless of the time of day that these clinical experiences occur. This expectation of punctuality is a professional responsibility, and is one of the expectations in the “Professional Standards for Learners and Faculty Members in the Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry” at the University of British Columbia.
UBC Midwifery cannot guarantee a clinical placement to a learner who has no immediate transportation access.
A learner who is repeatedly late to a clinical placement site due to transportation constraints may be removed from that placement, which may delay graduation.
The Midwifery program strongly recommends that learners have access to a vehicle or other means of personal (not public) transport to facilitate timely and safe participation in all aspects of clinical learning.