Mama-C
Safe surgery at birth
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Mama-C
Training tool for medical students to build competency in providing safe surgical care at birth. Mama-C is a system consisting of a mobile learning application and a physical skills trainer.
The aim is to complement theoretic and on-the-job training of c-section providers in Ethiopia, where the government’s efforts to scale up the workforce have resulted in high numbers of students entering the medical universities and teaching hospitals each year.
Context
Master thesis in collaboration with Laerdal Global Health
5 months project, 2018
Role
Individual Project, Research & Concept
Challenge
Globally, approximately 810 women and 7000 newborns die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. The vast majority of these deaths occur in low and lower middle income countries and are preventable with appropriate care or medical interventions. (1)
In about 10-15% of all births, a safe and timely cesarean section is needed to guarantee a good outcome for the mother and newborn. (2)
In 2018, when the project was started, the Ethiopian government was working on several initiatives with NGOs to scale up the country’s surgical workforce and improve access to safe c-sections.
“We used to take 10 trainees, now we take 20-30.”
Senior Surgeon in Addis Abeba
This presents a challenge to the apprenticeship model in medical education, where practical skills are mostly practiced on patients under the supervision of an experienced mentor, and students often graduate and start working without the confidence to manage more complicated cases on their own.
Approach
Research
Analysis
Ideation
How might we help train a growing number of students to provide safe and timely cesarean section services?
Outcome
practice taking difficult decisions
The biggest challenge for many obstetricians we spoke with was to make the right decision on wether or not a woman needs cesarean section and when to intervene. The Mama-C App gives learners a chance to go through different case scenarios, get information on relevant aspects of the labor progress and practice to take well-founded decisions on what type of care a mother needs.
Guided Hands-on Practice
The app also guides students through the hands-on practice with the skills trainer.
To deliver a baby by cesarean section, surgical providers need to open six different layers of tissue, avoiding to harm major blood vessels and close-by organs like the urinary bladder.
The way the tissue is opened and sutured after the delivery strongly affects the healing process.
With Mama-C, learners can get guidance on the steps of evidence-based surgical technique to open the different tissue layers. They can go along with each step, getting familiar with the instruments and the anatomy, before they start operating on patients.
Want to dive deeper?
You can read the full report here: