What is Needed for a Realistic Childbirth Simulator?

A childbirth simulator is a cutting-edge device for Midwifery, Nursing, and Medical students. These are realistic simulators with innovative features to help students learn how to support a mother delivering her baby safely and minimizing any risks.

Birthing simulators are beneficial for Midwifery, Nursing, and Medical students, but they also help first aiders and emergency responders and keep the mother and baby safe. Read on!

What Makes a Realistic Birth Simulator?

Numerous features and characteristics determine the quality of a realistic birth simulator. For instance, lifelike touch and feel via premium-quality silicone-based skin and soft tissues make an ideal birth simulator that allows students to experience real-life-like situations.

In addition, a realistic simulator has a replaceable birth canal, offering realistic and limitless deliveries. It must also simulate the amniotic fluid and blood to provide a real-life-like experience to Midwifery, Nursing, and Medical students.

Another feature that makes a birth simulator more realistic is its ability to perform various birthing positions, including upright, on all fours, recumbent, and side-lying.

A realistic simulator has a range of common delivery complications, including shoulder dystocia, breech, cord prolapse, and vacuum assist. The birthing simulator must also integrate maternal and fetal physiology and anatomy.

How to Achieve More Realistic Experiences with Birth Simulator?

There is a never-ending learning curve in labor and delivery, and students that follow a traditional approach may not appropriately learn and practice how to assist a mother and her baby as hospital time is limited during training and thankfully fewer complications are seen.

Simulators prepare students for these moments, allowing them to analyze risks, make informed decisions, and develop critical solutions to address concerns surrounding maternal care. Here are a few ways to achieve realistic experiences with birthing simulators.

Hybrid Simulation

Hybrid simulation is an effective method for obstetric and midwifery students. It combines multiple simulation modalities to bridge the gap between the simulation and real clinical scenarios.

For example, a partial simulator/task trainer with a standardized patient creates realistic learning environments, allowing students to improve their communication and technical skills while carrying out the birth.

Hybrid simulations can simulate invasive procedures, such as C-sections, enabling students to assess their body language, decision-making abilities, and clinical skills. However, it requires instructors to recruit and train standardized patients.

At the same time, hybrid simulations require equipment maintenance. The downside of a hybrid simulator is that you can’t use it for complex physiological monitoring.

Optimize Fidelity Levels

Birth simulators are excellent learning and practicing methods for Midwifery, Nursing, and Medical students, equipping them with resources to deal with emergency and traumatic situations.

For instance, obstetrics is a critical area that uses high-fidelity manikins in simulating emergencies during labor and childbirth. Educators rely more on manikins than standardized patients due to the nature of traumatic situations.

However, it is crucial to optimize fidelity levels to ensure students meet their training objectives. At the same time, you can improve students’ learning outcomes by conducting high-fidelity simulations in situ.

Implement VR Simulation Methods

A 2021 research study highlighted that virtual reality simulations are a reliable method for health professionals to streamline pregnancy-related diagnostic procedures and perform accurate C-sections with reduced anxiety and panic.

Virtual Medical Coaching (VMC) is a world renowned company that offers different types of simulators, including high-fidelity childbirth VR-based simulations that help Midwifery, Nursing, and Medical students practice their skills and optimize their learning experiences.

At the same time, VMC’s childbirth simulation supports students to work together as a team and care for the woman in labor. Virtual reality simulation is reportedly the best way to examine and analyze rotations and restitutions.

VR-based simulation allows students to experience a completely immersive environment, perform diagnostics during childbirth, see the internal and external rotations, mechanism of labor and fetal positions, and restitutions to ensure everything goes smoothly.

So, VR is an excellent way to improve learning for medical students, particularly those studying gynecology and obstetrics.

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8936910/

https://www.healthysimulation.com/birth-simulator/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7993522/