PROBLEM: In Australia, program accreditation requirements include that education providers monitor and evaluate teaching and learning environments and provide evidence of outcomes being used to inform program quality improvement. Yet, closing this loop has proven challenging. BACKGROUND: The Australian National Placement Evaluation Centre (NPEC) functions to measure the quality of placements through student evaluations. One measure the Placement Evaluation Tool (PET) had not been tested in midwifery student cohorts. AIM: To confirm the validity and reliability of the Placement Evaluation Tool (PET) for midwifery. DESIGN: Survey instrument development. METHODS: A three-phase, sequential study involving seven Australian universities and students enrolled in entry level midwifery programs. FINDINGS: The Content Validity Index (CVI) was >
0.90 for relevance and clarity. There was strong concurrent validity between the PET-Midwifery and the MidSTEP CLE scale [r = 0.503, p = 0.01]. Overall satisfaction with placements was high (mean 8.02/10). The PET-Midwifery was found to be reliable: Cronbach's alpha 0.957 with an Intraclass Correlation Co-efficient of 0.957. DISCUSSION: The PET - Midwifery is valid and reliable for midwifery students to evaluate the quality of midwifery practice placements. Administered through the Australian National Placement Evaluation Centre, it is feasible that this tool will allow education providers to monitor and evaluate learning environments and use this information to inform program quality improvement. CONCLUSION: The PET - Midwifery can offer education providers and midwifery practice placement settings with valuable information to effectively close all evaluation loops, as required for accreditation and to help enhance the quality of midwifery practice education.