‘Zero Maternal Death’ training in Linden
─ medical practitioners equipped with knowledge to deal with obstetric haemorrhaging
– programme to be incorporated into medical schools’ curriculum
─use of anti- shock garment being introduced at birthing centres
DPI, Guyana, Saturday, March 30, 2019
The ‘Zero Maternal Death’ training initiative started by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and adopted by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), in 2018 is currently being conducted at the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC)
The three-day training session is being facilitated by Dr. Narine Singh an OBGYN training facilitator attached to the Ministry of Public Health.
25 practitioners are participating. These include midwives, OBGYN doctors and consultants, registered nurses, maternity unit and antennal clinic staff and Community Health Workers (CHWs). The participants are based at not only LHC but come from the Upper Demerara Hospital, the Kwakwani Hospital, Ituni Health Centre and the other community antennal clinics.
Dr Singh explained that obstetric haemorrhaging is one of the main causes of maternal deaths and is something that the public health sector has been battling with for some time. “Obstetric haemorrhaging is the number one cause of maternal death, something that we have been struggling to deal with, and so this exercise is specifically to train our health care providers like our OBGYN staff, who deal with deliveries….it is specialised training for these workers,” he said.
The aim is to equip the participants with the knowledge and skills needed to prevent death by effectively managing haemorrhage . CHWs from the outlying communities are included because they have been deemed the first responders to situations of haemorrhaging and will now be equipped with the knowledge to quickly identify patients at risk of bleeding complications.
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According to Dr. Singh, the Ministry is introducing the use of anti-shock garments. “This is a specific piece of equipment we can use when the patient is bleeding and helps to stabilize the patient. This was a piece of equipment donated by PAHO and given to all of the hospitals birthing centres in the country, so that if there is a need to transfer the patient, we can use this anti-shock garment so that the patient can be stabilized until the patient meets where they can be managed more effectively,” he explained.
The Public Health Ministry plans to train everyone in the health system before incorporating it, into the curriculum at the nursing school, midwifery school, medics training programme, residency programme etc. To ensure that the training is effective, strict monitoring of how maternal cases are dealt with will be done. Monitoring will also include recording and evaluating ‘near misses’ since this can enable the practitioners to ascertain what should be done in similar cases.
“We can learn from maternal deaths where we can do better, but ‘near misses’ can also provide some information as to what we did well, what we didn’t do well, what we need to improve and so we have started recording ‘near misses’ now, as one of the new statistics. Maternal deaths are just the tip of the ice burg, a lot of patients had a lot of complications but made it out,” Dr. Singh related.
The ‘Zero Maternal Death’ training programme has been conducted in all administrative regions except Region Eight. Approximately 135 medical practitioners have participated thus far. The LHC has a very good track record of zero maternal death, with only one recorded, over the last ten years.
Story and images: Vanessa Braithwaite