When doctors learn from midwives
Since 2019, around 50 medical students from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) have been trained in physiological obstetrics by aspiring midwives at the Bern University of Applied Sciences each year. This is a novelty in medical history, because for a long time doctors trained midwives and not vice versa.
For a long time, the training of midwives was reserved for medical professionals. While in the 18th century medical midwifery training taught docility and deference (see box), today the aim is to improve interprofessional cooperation with medical professionals and promote mutual respect. To this end, the Bern University of Applied Sciences developed an interprofessional skills training course in 2019 together with the ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences) and the ETHZ (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich).
A novelty in the history of medicine
This skills training is a novelty in the history of medicine. Unlike in the 18th century, 50 trainee doctors of human medicine learn from trainee midwives in the skills training every year. The midwives pass on their expertise in physiological obstetrics so that the human medicine students learn the midwives' point of view. The midwifery students also benefit from their role as peer tutors, because they learn twice through the intensive involvement with preparation and teaching, in the sense of "to teach is to learn twice". To ensure that they are able to impart correct knowledge, skills training takes place in the second year of study. At that time, the competences on physiology have already been tested in the prospective midwives. BFH tutors are present during the training sessions as facilitators and can be called in for assistance.
Experience examinations for yourself
The human medicine students have already received twelve hours of theory lessons before the skills training. In the skills training, the focus is then on practical training in the topics of pregnancy, birth, the postpartum period and the newborn. The interprofessional groups discuss case studies per topic area and practice their skills in physiological obstetrics as well as their communication skills with the help of actresses and obstetric models and dolls. The students do not leave out any situation: Everything from birth date calculation, heart sound evaluation and vaginal examination to physiological birth, placenta assessment and breastfeeding is included. "The medical students can experience for themselves what it feels like to have someone in a gynaecological chair performing possible examinations on you and also communicating," explains Martina Rüegg, research assistant at BFH and co-organiser of the training. "Here they quickly feel that privacy and empathy are important for the patients, even considering that the training takes place in clothes and so there is already a certain amount of privacy," she continues.
Positive feedback from students
"It is fun to see how motivated the midwives are and how they represent their profession with a lot of joy and pride," says Martina Rüegg. The skills training is also well received by the medical students, as some statements from the evaluation show.
"The motivation of the midwifery students is really impressive. They made a huge effort to pass on their knowledge in a targeted way. For the first time (!) in medical school, I have practised some skills enough times that I feel a bit confident."
"It is an extremely cool approach that the midwives teach us medical students about birth theoretically as well as on models. These skills days were a highlight of my studies."
"I thought the two days were great. The interprofessional exchange was very exciting and we were able to learn a lot from the midwives. Our midwife colleagues were very keen to explain everything to us and motivated to answer our questions."
Please read the full article external pagehere (in German).