7. Perineal suturing

Preceptorship is the 15th series of 'Midwifery basics' targeted at practising midwives. The aim of these articles is to provide information to raise awareness of the impact of the work of midwives on women's experience, and encourage midwives to seek further information through a series of activities relating to the topic. During the transition from student midwife, the newly qualified practitioner (NQM) is required to obtain experience of perineal suturing. With exposure varying from student to student and inconsistency in teaching methods between hospital trusts, the NQM can be left feeling apprehensive and unsupported to learn this skill. Suturing is a major and sometimes traumatic event for childbearing women, whose experience can vary greatly, depending upon many factors, including environment, skill of those suturing, effective analgesia and waiting times. In this penultimate article of the series, Megan Blease and Kerry Taylor address the current issues and provide learning hints and tips for NQMs learning and practising the skill.