Stephanie Preston

Reflection on Assist Experiences

Fall 2020

Last semester I took a break to try and get my head back on straight and deal with the

hand I have been dealt with Covid and my own life struggles. Personally I feel like I have grown

a significant amount this last semester. I have been doing therapy and working on better

establishing what my boundaries are and figuring out how to set them in both my personal and

professional life. I believe that this personal growth is going to greatly benefit me in my own

midwifery practice as I move into my primary phase and even further into my own practice. My

preceptor has paved a path for me and set great examples of ways to put up healthy boundaries

with clients to maintain financial stability, reduce burnout, and ensure that we are working with

clients that are a good fit for us.

Challenges I have faced this semester in my clinical work has mostly just been feeling

like I have kind of plateaued. My preceptor is chomping at the bit for me to begin primaries and

because of all of the timeouts I have taken I still have a bit of didactic work before I can test out

of phase 2. I have also seemed to hit a bit of a lull in that my preceptor and I have found an

exellect groove at births. We work around and with each other so well and it’s reached a point of

whoever happens to be closer manages whatever needs to be managed. I have been able to

catch several babies at this point and she often asks me what I would like to do and allows me

to be the one verbalizing all of the calls as to what we should be doing for care and it is just the

two of us at every birth. With this though I am noticing I can’t seem to progress of more

challenging tasks because there are not enough hands at the births for me to be able to perform

the tasks with her fully supervising and able to instruct because the second set of hands is

needed elsewhere so I have thus plateaued a bit. My preceptor did just recently bring a new

student in who is just beginning their assist phase so hopefully having the additional set of

hands will allow us to help me move forward a little more in some of the bigger tasks.
 My clinical learning strategy hasn’t really changed. The way my preceptor works really

allows me the opportunity to spread my wings and test my knowledge with her there to catch

and correct. It has been an incredibly beneficial strategy for me and it feels a lot like the see one

do one teach one technique.

This semester's growth has been mostly emotional. I have gained a much greater

understanding of my limits and abilities as a person and as a provider.