NIHSS receives midwifery training models |28 March 2015

Students of the National Institute of Health and Social Studies (NIHSS) learning to become midwives will now be able to learn through training models which their school has received.

The Seychelles Cable System Co Ltd (SCS) encompassing Cable & Wireless, Department of Information Communication and Technology, and Airtel donated the midwifery training models to the school in a ceremony yesterday morning at North East Point.

Information communication and technology principal secretary Benjamin Choppy said this is their very first corporate social responsibility (CSR) project in association with the Ministry of Health and NIHSS.

“The SCS found that it was a project that would benefit the local community as a whole and will also have a long-lasting impact. As such the decision was quite easy for us to take and we hope that the models and the equipment which we have funded will help in ensuring this,” said Mr Choppy.

Mr Choppy, who is also the SCS chairman, handed over the models to NIHSS director Marylene Lucas in the presence of health principal secretary Peggy Vidot, Cable & Wireless chief executive Charles Hammond who is also a member of the SCS, NIHSS midwifery consultant Patricia Donovan, Health Care Agency chief executive Dr Suresh Menon, Public Health Commissioner Dr Jude Gedeon, staff of the Ministry of Health, as well as the staff and students of the NIHSS.

Mrs Lucas said the Ministry of Health and the NIHSS have always strived to provide innovative and practice-oriented programmes in midwifery.

“We place high value on evidence-based practice and will now be consolidated with the use of stimulated learning...One major way this can be achieved is through a strong emphasis on how to engage with the patients and ensuring patients’ safety at all times,” said Mrs Lucas.

She explained that the offered programme is faced with increased pressure to produce graduates who are capable of providing safe and skilful midwifery care.
“Through the use of simulation learning experiences, students will be able to acquire essential clinical practice skills in a safe and realistic simulated setting,” she said “and it will also expose the students to best practice scenarios through a more memorable way of learning”.

Mrs Lucas said this is an opportunity to act further as a catalyst to implement many of the much-needed reforms in health care and health training.
She concluded by taking the opportunity to call on other partners, businesses and the community at large to make contributions in favour of training of health professionals.

Research has indicated that there are advantages of didactic approaches through simulated learning in midwifery education and it will benefit clinical and educational outcomes, while enhancing non-technical skills, confidence and competence.