How and when midwives learn about stillbirth, and what they do with that knowledge is the focus of the Learning aspect of my program of research
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Nurses Memorial foundation grant
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Stillbirth foundation grant
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InUTERO
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In mid 2012 Associate Professor Pauline Glover and I won a 2 year grant from the Nurses memorial foundation to investigate the level of knowledge South Australian midwives had about risk factors for stillbirth and explored their current willingness to raise and discuss stillbirth with pregnant women during standard antenatal care.
When we analysed data from this research project we found a disturbing lack of education about stillbirth in a large group of Australian midwives (n=74). This stemmed from lack of information in their basic education program as well as limited opportunities for professional development they had undertaken since.
Warland, J & Glover, P 2015, 'Talking to pregnant women about stillbirth: evaluating the effectiveness of an information workshop for midwives using pre and post intervention surveys', Nurse Education Today, vol. 35, no. 10, pp. 21-25.
I have presented aspects of the Nurses memorial foundation grant at the following conferences:
· Warland J, Glover, P Talking to pregnant women about stillbirth: the importance of educating midwives Paper to the second international stillbirth summit Minneapolis MN June 19-21 2014
· Warland J, Talking to women about stillbirth. Paper to Australian College of midwives conference Hobart Tasmania Oct 2013
· Warland J Discussing Stillbirth with Pregnant Women Poster to The 2012 International conference on stillbirth, SIDS and Infant Survival, Baltimore, Maryland Oct 4-7 2012
When we analysed data from this research project we found a disturbing lack of education about stillbirth in a large group of Australian midwives (n=74). This stemmed from lack of information in their basic education program as well as limited opportunities for professional development they had undertaken since.
Warland, J & Glover, P 2015, 'Talking to pregnant women about stillbirth: evaluating the effectiveness of an information workshop for midwives using pre and post intervention surveys', Nurse Education Today, vol. 35, no. 10, pp. 21-25.
I have presented aspects of the Nurses memorial foundation grant at the following conferences:
· Warland J, Glover, P Talking to pregnant women about stillbirth: the importance of educating midwives Paper to the second international stillbirth summit Minneapolis MN June 19-21 2014
· Warland J, Talking to women about stillbirth. Paper to Australian College of midwives conference Hobart Tasmania Oct 2013
· Warland J Discussing Stillbirth with Pregnant Women Poster to The 2012 International conference on stillbirth, SIDS and Infant Survival, Baltimore, Maryland Oct 4-7 2012
A/Prof Pauline Glover and I won funding from the Stillbirth Foundation to further explore the current state of play of undergraduate midwifery education about stillbirth in Australia.
Key findings were:
There is a diverse inclusion of material relating to the topic of stillbirth, with different approaches to teaching the content and the amount of time devoted to the topic is relatively small. There is room to improve and standardise appropriate stillbirth curriculum nationally. It is imperative that midwives are able to provide sensitive and knowledgeable care to all women and their families
For more you can read the results here:
Warland, J & Glover, P 2018, 'Tertiary education regarding stillbirth for student midwives: the tears 4 SMS project', Women and birth, online, pp. 1-4.
Key findings were:
There is a diverse inclusion of material relating to the topic of stillbirth, with different approaches to teaching the content and the amount of time devoted to the topic is relatively small. There is room to improve and standardise appropriate stillbirth curriculum nationally. It is imperative that midwives are able to provide sensitive and knowledgeable care to all women and their families
For more you can read the results here:
Warland, J & Glover, P 2018, 'Tertiary education regarding stillbirth for student midwives: the tears 4 SMS project', Women and birth, online, pp. 1-4.
'InUtero' (Intensive workshop to Understand, Talk, Educate, Reinforce and Observe for stillbirth awareness and Prevention) is a 4 hour workshop designed in collaboration with StillAware to gain an understanding of maternity care provider (obstetricians and midwives) knowledge of stillbirth and determine whether delivering a half day workshop improves knowledge and results in intention to change practice.
The workshop has been very effective with stillbirth knowledge scores (total of 8-points) significantly increased following the workshop (pre: mean = 2.9 ± 1.5; post: mean = 4.7 ± 1.4 points, t 29 = 7.9, <0.001). Before the workshop, only 20% of participants responded that they “always” or usually” discussed the possibility stillbirth occurring with pregnant women in their care whereas, after the workshop, nearly all (88%) indicated that they planned to “always” discuss stillbirth with their pregnant clients.
You can read more about the workshop here:
Warland J, Dorrian, J., Pollock, D. and Foord, C., (2020) ‘InUTERO’: The effectiveness of an educational half day stillbirth awareness workshop for maternity care providers. Nurse Education Today, Feb;85:104298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2019.104298
The workshop has been very effective with stillbirth knowledge scores (total of 8-points) significantly increased following the workshop (pre: mean = 2.9 ± 1.5; post: mean = 4.7 ± 1.4 points, t 29 = 7.9, <0.001). Before the workshop, only 20% of participants responded that they “always” or usually” discussed the possibility stillbirth occurring with pregnant women in their care whereas, after the workshop, nearly all (88%) indicated that they planned to “always” discuss stillbirth with their pregnant clients.
You can read more about the workshop here:
Warland J, Dorrian, J., Pollock, D. and Foord, C., (2020) ‘InUTERO’: The effectiveness of an educational half day stillbirth awareness workshop for maternity care providers. Nurse Education Today, Feb;85:104298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2019.104298