Pilot Evaluation Study of Simulation-Based Training to Improve Emergent Obstetric Procedures in Low Resource Settings within the United States

Global Outreach: Mobile Obstetrics Medical Simulation & Gynecologic Surgery

More women are dying of pregnancy-related complications in America than in any other developed country. To curb the rise of maternal mortality, we must immediately begin changing the ways in which we manage obstetrical emergencies. Many hospitals – including those with intensive care units for newborns – are critically unprepared for maternal emergencies. Protocols for potentially fatal complications are strikingly inconsistent, allowing treatable complications to become lethal.

A simulation-based training program developed at Stanford called GO MOMS (Global Outreach Mobile Obstetrics Medical Simulation) was previously piloted successfully in Nicaragua in 2013-2014 and is ongoing in Guatemala. The course uses lectures and advanced simulation-based training to educate residents, medical students, and faculty on the obstetric emergencies of postpartum hemorrhage, hypertensive emergencies, maternal cardiac arrest, and shoulder dystocia.

In 2017 GOMOMS was expanded for a USA audience to respond to the rising U.S. maternal mortality rate, beginning with a small pilot course for MD and RN providers at Watsonville Community Hospital. In 2018, in collaboration with the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) and the Mississippi Maternal Perinatal Quality Collaboration (MMPQC), GO MOMS provided a 2-day course in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and most recently in 2019 at the Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, California.

Thanks to a Clinician Educators grant from Stanford’s Maternal & Child Health Research Institute, Drs. Kay Daniels, Amy Judy and Katherine Bianco will be able to validate this educational program in the USA and gather important preliminary data in order to apply for larger funding from the NIH to train additional teams and implement the program on a larger scale.

Principal Investigator:

Kay Daniels, MD, is an obstetrician gynecologist and cofounder of GOMOMS. She directs obstetric simulation training at Stanford Children’s Health and has expanded her practice to include simulation-based training in low-resource areas.

Co-Investigators:

Amy Judy, MD, MPH, is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who has conducted important research in clinical obstetrics and is well experienced in simulation-based education.

Katherine Bianco, MD, is a maternal-fetal medicine and genetics specialist with expertise in placental biology, aneuploidy and in developing human trophoblast progenitor lines.