New skills lab for trainee midwives opens at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen
Building a bridge between theory and professional practice
Having a well-trained midwife at their side who can offer their assistance whatever happens is very important for expectant mothers. The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Universitätsklinikum has set up a new skills and simulation lab so that trainee midwives can gain comprehensive practical skills in a clinical setting. It was opened on June 29, 2023 during a ceremony attended by Joachim Herrmann, Bavarian Minister of the Interior for Sport and Integration, Bernhard Seidenath, Chair of the Committee for Health and Care in the Bavarian parliament, and Frank Plesse, Assistant Secretary of the Bavarian State Ministry of Public Health and Care Services.
The guests gained some insights into the practical focus of training provided to trainee midwives in the Midwifery Science degree program at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and at FAU during the event.
The Skills Lab, which is around 170 square meters in size, comprises a simulation delivery room in which training is provided in antenatal examinations, care during delivery and post-natal care, as well as a simulation operating theater and a classroom.
The rooms are equipped with the “SIMStation” video debriefing system. This enables the simulated situations to be recorded in the simulation room and transmitted to a neighboring room where other students or teaching staff can observe what is going on. From this room, the dummies used in the simulation can be made to speak, which makes the situations even more realistic.
In addition to birth demonstration models, real people who have been trained as simulation patients are also used so that trainee midwives can practice giving breastfeeding advice and post-natal care, for example.
Birth training in a protected environment
Degree program representative and Director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen Prof. Dr. Matthias W. Beckmann emphasized the significance of the new teaching rooms: “The skills and simulation lab opened in Erlangen today reflects the current state of the art in terms of technology and equipment used by midwives in clinical and non-clinical settings. The skills and simulation lab thus builds a bridge between the theoretical knowledge learned in lectures and practical training in a clinical setting. This provides trainees a realistic and authentic training environment. The aim of simulation-based learning is to support our trainee midwives to develop subject-related, methodological, social and personal skills in a systematic manner on the one hand, and on the other, to equip them with as wide a repertoire of techniques as possible, while underlining at all times that the safety of patients in real-life situations has utmost priority.”
Liselotte Braun, research associate of the Midwifery Science degree program, referred to the increasing requirements in health care: “Against this backdrop in particular, it is important to create new areas for teaching and learning as well as additional teaching methods for the transfer between theory and practice. The skills lab is a safe environment that enables students to practice their skills without any pressure. Mistakes are actually welcome here. It is also extremely important that certain techniques are practiced first on models in order to prevent unnecessary examinations on women and to ensure that the correct action is taken in every situation, no matter how seldom it occurs.”
Simulation-based learning
During the event, various stations in the delivery room explained situations from the everyday work of a midwife. Using models, Midwifery Science students showed visitors how examinations are performed on pregnant women, how to hold a newborn, and the most important techniques used in caring for women who have just given birth. Thanks to a pair of augmented reality glasses, which superimpose virtual content onto the wearer’s field of view, visitors were also able to see the anatomy of a woman in childbirth and thus to track the position and movements of the baby in the womb and in the pelvis during the entire course of the birth.
Demands of modern training
Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann emphasized: “The Skills Lab is an important milestone for offering the best possible care to new mothers and their children. It enables students to practice every technique and every emergency. The best possible integration of academic teaching and practical training means that trainee midwives are very well prepared for their future careers.”
Bernhard Seidenath explained: “Midwives do very important work before, during and after the birth. The simulation delivery room at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen for the Midwifery Science degree program, which has received half a million euros of funding from the Free State of Bavaria, provides a standardized environment that enables students to learn about various situations that can occur during delivery and how to react in critical cases, without any risks for mothers and babies, and thus also provides highly-professional training to these future midwives.”
The Midwifery Science degree program at FAU has been available since winter semester 2021/22. The co-operative undergraduate Bachelor’s degree program comprises the entire spectrum of duties performed by a midwife. The academic teaching at FAU and the practical training provided by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen in its role as the main training facility are perfectly matched to each other. In addition to the 68 Midwifery Science students, students of Medicine and those studying at the Academy for Health Care and Nursing Professions at Universitätsklinikum will be able to learn valuable techniques for their later careers at the new skills lab.
Further information
Prof. Dr. Matthias W. Beckmann
Phone: +49 9131 85 33451
fk-direktion@uk-erlangen.de