A novel method to gain force awareness in a simulated childbirth and reduce the fetal head traction force; a randomised controlled trial
How to to reduce the forces applied to the fetal head in a simulated normal childbirth and in a simulated childbirth complicated by shoulder dystocia
Midwifery students are invited to participate in a 1-day workshop and are randomized to either group A (intervention) or group B (controls). All students will be assessed with regards to the traction force applied to the fetal head in both a normal vaginal birth and in a childbirth complicated with shoulder dystocia, using a high-fidelity computerised birthing-simulator with an integrated force-monitoring system. All students will participate in a pre-training assessment, theoretical and practical training, and completed a post-training assessment. The intervention involves students acquiring force awareness by applying fetal head traction and at the same time having immediate visual feedback of forces on a screen provided by the simulator’s force-monitoring system. The students will receive the intervention following their theoretical and practical training, but prior to the final post-training assessment. The students from both groups (intervention-controls) will also be invited to attend a single follow-up assessment 6-months in order to assess whether the reduction in traction forces is retained. Method of randomization: Computer-generated sequence of random numbers against the alphabetical list of students.
Third-year midwifery students of the University of Western Macedonia, Greece
Does not meet inclusion criteria