The Advanced Maternal-Neonatal Simulation center of the European e-Learning School in Obstetric Anesthesia aims to promote the increase of the safety of mother and child through realistic medical simulations and a mix of teaching tools which optimize the interaction between people, technology and the organization of medical care.
A medical simulation is a form of roleplay, where artificial (and therefore totally safe) clinical situations are created, which are similar to those found in actual clinical practice.
By taking part in the simulation scenarios, participants learn the procedures, try out the equipment, take action and acquire new skills in interdisciplinary co-operation. This is especially useful regarding those difficult or unusual cases where the well-being or even the life of the patient hangs in the balance.
Our advanced simulation center avails of sophisticated technology in the form of SimMom, a state-of-the-art mannequin, which is able to respond clinically as a real parturient would. By integrating this techonology with the interventions of the instructors, a range of clinical situations can be reproduced. These include maternal resuscitation, neonatal intensive care and obstetric manoeuvres, and also more complex multidisciplinary simulations, such as post-partum haemorrhage, uterine inversion, and maternal convulsions.
In addition to the standard modular functions, our simulator includes an exclusive integrated module of our own design, which can be used in training of the techniques of neuroaxial anesthesia, both epidural and spinal.
Thus the simulator can satisfy the specialized training demands of the whole mother-infant sector – gynaecologists, anesthetists, neonatologists, obstetricians and nurses.
The construction of realistic scenarios is thoroughly studied and planned prior to the simulation by EuSim-certified instructors, and can be adapted to the specific needs of the participants, at increasing levels of difficulty and reproducing all the events of childbirth.
We believe that an important part of the learning process is the post-simulation debriefing. During this phase the trainee, guided by the instructors and with the help of a video recording of the scenario he or she has just completed, will acquire full competence in the specific learning goals of the simulation.
Furthermore, our simulation center also provides interactive pre-recorded video simulations which involve the participant in behavioural decisions on open-ended clinical cases whose outcomes are dependent on the decision algorithms of the participant themselves.
All our courses are ECM certified, approved by the various Scientific Societies of the sector. They are also part of the European e-learning project in analgesia and anesthesia in obstetric medicine.
It is well established that the human factor is at the root of the majority of medical mistakes. Learning through simulation aids the identification of weak points in routine practice, and the implementation of training solutions, and in doing so greatly contributes to improving the safety and wellbeing of mother and child.
The Advanced Maternal-Neonatal Simulation Center is located in Rome, Italy.
Italian version