Timing of admission and selected aspects of intrapartum care: Relationship with caesarean section in the COSMOS (Caseload Midwifery) trial

Abstract

Interprofessional education (IPE) or ‘learning and teaching together as a team’ is a relatively new concept for postgraduate maternity professional education. In 2007, the NSW Department of Health commenced work on an IPE program ‘Fetal welfare, Obstetric emergency, Neonatal resuscitation Training’ (FONT). This two-day program was designed to improve communication and teamwork around fetal welfare assessment, the management of maternity emergencies and neonatal resuscitation within the maternity clinical settings of NSW. Two hundred and forty clinicians, including obstetricians, general practitioners and midwives were trained as trainers who would provide local education sessions across the state. This paper will report on the results of the fetal welfare education that was part of the FONT program. This is a qualitative study that used a Likert rated questionnaire and unstructured interviews for evaluation. The Likert rated questionnaire was developed and sent to each of the 240 FONT trainers. Opinions were sought on the use of the IPE approach to teaching/learning fetal welfare assessment and the perceived effects of IPE on the maternity clinical environment in relation to communication, teamwork and clinical care. Fifteen of the respondents to the questionnaire were selected to take part in the unstructured interviews to further explore the themes developed from open-ended responses within the questionnaire. The majority of the respondents believed that IPE could work with 97% reporting thatmidwives and doctors learning togetherwas a positive experience, 97% believed that learningwithin amixed professional group was a positive way to learn and 97% appreciated hearing other people’s experiences with clinical decision making. Ninety eight percent (98%) believed that learning together would improve clinical discussion in the workplace and 92% reported the interactive education format improved communication between professional groups.