PURPOSE:
Hospital San José in Santiago handles ≈5,000 births per year and concentrates Chile’s public obstetric and neonatal complexity. The shortage of midwives with managerial skills hampers clinical governance and efficient resource use. To bridge this gap, the University of Chile and Hospital San José co-created and, since 2023, have implemented a Management and Leadership Specialisation—an innovative curricular track designed to strengthen clinical and strategic competencies in management, leadership and decision-making for senior roles in maternal and perinatal health.Objective: To describe the implementation and formative impact of this specialisation on Obstetrics and Puericulture students, highlighting its contribution to preparing professionals who can assume coordination, management and policy-making positions focused on the health of women, newborns and families.

DISCUSSION:
The programme begins with advanced clinical immersion in hospital services, where students undertake supervised rotations alongside midwives in leadership roles. It then addresses organisational management, strategic planning, continuous improvement and quality culture. Students deepen their understanding of institutional structures, efficient resource management, care-flow design and process evaluation, while developing innovative projects such as organisational redesigns, protocol updates or inter-sector coordination strategies. Evaluation considers analytical skills, critical thinking, problem-solving capacity, effective communication and ethical leadership.

EVIDENCE WHERE RELEVANT:
Since 2023, sixty students have participated (19 in 2023, 21 in 2024, 20 in 2025), consolidating a learning experience that fosters professional profiles with systemic vision, quality orientation and commitment to public health for women and their newborns.

KEY MESSAGE:
Embedding leadership and management in undergraduate education transforms midwives into change agents who strengthen clinical governance and maternal-neonatal safety. Specialising midwives in their final year unlocks essential executive potential for equitable and safe care. Education - postgraduate (including three-minute presentation competition)