An experiential model of education introduced to improve the confidence of student midwives in undertaking second stage management of the perineum (SSMP).

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: the limited availability of high quality evidence related to second stage management of the perineum (SSMP) combined with a perceived shift in UK practice towards a 'hands off' the perineum/fetal head approach are likely to have impacted significantly on student midwives' understanding of SSMP. This paper presents a classroom based educational session using low fidelity simulation, which was designed in response to student feedback and aimed to improve confidence in this skill. DESIGN: reflective teaching practice, based on evaluation of SSMP teaching. SETTING: an undergraduate midwifery programme based at an inner city university in London UK. PARTICIPANTS: student midwives. FINDINGS: the education session based on Kolb's experiential approach to learning appeared to address gaps in the previous teaching which was identified by students. The Classroom setting offered students a supportive setting in which to experiment with different SSMP approaches with a view to personalising care and without compromising safety. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE although further longitudnal research is needed, the experiential model appears to offer a low resource approach to teaching SSMP and has potential application in other countries.