Abstract

This article seeks to explore why the time is now right to review student nurse maternity placements within the maternity setting. It highlights the reasons why maternity placements have been used in the past and the need for reorganization in the light of changing practice. A new and innovative approach is discussed where student nurses no longer attend the maternity unit for a given number of weeks but instead are linked with a family who form the focus of the student’s experience of health care in the community.