Descriptive study on sustainable labor and delivery education: Learning from practices amid COVID-19 pandemic and major disasters

Abstract

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic limited educational opportunities for midwifery students. Nevertheless, this led to the development of new educational methods, and the number of students passing Japan's national midwifery examinations has remained the same. This indicates the need to study whether midwifery education was provided appropriately during the pandemic. Accordingly, this study examined labor and delivery education at Japanese educational institutions that provided superior midwifery education during the pandemic, when practical training opportunities were limited.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with institutional personnel about on-campus exercises when practical training was difficult and about difficult-to-acquire learning content despite creative efforts to enhance on-campus exercises. The questions were based on interviewees' prior written answers related to the “practical skills required of midwives and attainment goals at graduation.” The identified items were coded and categorized.

Results

The results showed that the necessary practical skills could be acquired through both on-campus education and on-site training. It was found that the necessary practical skills for the parturient period indicated by the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare can be acquired through both on-campus education and clinical training. Four categories of innovations for on-site training were extracted: <Development of technical skills>, <Digitalization of teaching materials>, <Application of appropriate diagnosis and techniques for the specifics of the situation>, and <Appropriate placement of the right person in the right position in education>. The results indicated that even with the use of educational innovations, it is difficult to obtain <Care tailored to the real-life birthing process>, <Subject-centered care> and <Opportunities to learn from interactions with midwives> through onsite training.

Conclusion

It is possible to improve the practical skills indicated by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare by devising methods for on-site training. With the advancement of science and technology, further improvement of the educational effectiveness of onsite training can be expected through the development of educational materials. However, it was shown that it is difficult to acquire the sense of object and ethics of midwifery and the communication skills required for the profession by actually interacting with midwives and their families, except through clinical training.