A pilot study on the simulation-based training for Ethiopia skilled birth attendants

This simulation-based Ethiopia Midwife Train-the-Trainer program for skilled birth attendants is one part of the China-UK Global Health Support Program (GHSP) activities and an approach to improving the Ethiopia trainers' midwifery teaching skills. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a simulation-based training for Ethiopia skilled birth attendants. This program was divided into three stages. In Stage 1, Fudan team trained 5 trainers from Ethiopia. In Stage 2, Fudan team supervised and evaluated the 1st stage Ethiopia trainers to train their peers becoming the trainers in Fudan University. In Stage 3, Fudan team evaluated the training program implementation in established Advanced Midwifery Practice Center in Tirunesh Beijing General Hospital. The participatory observational method was used for process evaluation and the Kirkpatrick model was used for effectiveness evaluation. The Ethiopia staff's teaching skills for simulation-based midwifery training were strengthened and their abilities to deal with various complicated obstetric situations were improved by group explanation, questions, rehearsal, and step-by-step interactive teaching (p < .01). The mean score of total mastery degree was 3.48 ± 0.16 by self-assessment and 3.63 ± 0.16 by peer-assessment in stage 2, and 3.27 ± 0.24 by self-assessment and 3.38 ± 0.34 by peer-assessment in stage 3.The GHSP-OP4-V01 Ethiopia Midwife Train-the-Trainer Program has received positive response in Ethiopia by in-depth interview and questionnaire survey. This study demonstrated that the simulation-based training is an effective approach for midwifery Train-the-Trainer program in Ethiopia.