Maternity training simulator to enhance patient care
26 June 2017
Health Care
Southend University Hospital’s Maternity Unit has been successful in its bid for Maternity Safety Training Funds from Health Education England (HEE).
The £53,400 awarded has been invested in an advanced training
manikin which will enhance the care for women and their babies by
providing ongoing specialist training for the multidisciplinary
team.
Colleen Begg, Head of Midwifery and Gynaecology and Clinical
Director for Women and Children's, said: "We are pleased to have
secured this bid for Southend Maternity. This will provide the
opportunity to enhance clinical practice by providing valuable
multidisciplinary training within the clinical environment."
The manikin is a computerised simulator of a pregnant woman,
which can be used to enact clinical scenarios including a variety
of complications such as breech and instrumental births. This will
give the multidisciplinary team the opportunity to practice real
live skills and drills in real time and encourage team working.
Miss Mohamed, Consultant Obstetrician and
Clinical Lead for the Central Delivery Suite, said: "This is
particularly useful in helping teams to practice clinical scenarios
they may come across in real life and work out how to best manage
them in a safe environment. Through winning this bid, we are
seeking to increase and improve multi-disciplinary training,
focusing on human factors, teamwork and communication as well as
knowledge and skills."
A multidisciplinary faculty is being established
within the unit and this team of obstetricians, anaesthetists,
midwives, nurses and health care assistants will be trained to use
the simulator in emergency drills and other scenarios that commonly
occur in clinical practice.
This team will be responsible for providing
specific training for all maternity teams and will be undertaken in
the simulation suite, which opened at the Trust a year ago. Storage
of the simulator on the Maternity Unit will enable the
multidisciplinary teams working together to practice skills and
drills within their clinical environment on a monthly basis.
Kate Palmer, Lead Midwife for Quality and Innovation, explained
why the manikin will make a big difference to those working on the
maternity unit and also new mums to be.
She said: "The importance of everyone's role within the team can
be clearly demonstrated in simulation and build the team's
confidence, their understanding of each other's roles, enhance
communication and build trust in each other. Most importantly it
will continually enhance safety for women and their babies."
Lisa Bayliss-Pratt, Director of Nursing and Deputy Director of
Education and Quality at HEE said: "The response from service
providers and partners inapplying to make maternity services safer
through education and training has been excellent.
"I am delighted that the trust has been awarded an allocation
from the fund to progress their training and safety improvements,
helping to make maternity services safer for mothers and babies,
and enhance their care experience."
Image l-r: Kate Palmer, Miss Mohamed and Deborah Stock, Practice
Development Midwife