Evidence-Based Suturing Education for Midwives

Perineal repair is a skill that student nurse-midwives must achieve competency in before graduating and entering practice. Students and new midwives often express a lack of confidence in their ability to undertake perineal repair. This article aims to share one public university nurse-midwifery program's experience developing and implementing a suturing education program with an interprofessional approach. We designed a workshop that optimized student confidence and competence in suturing by incorporating the best evidence. Components of this workshop included interprofessional education, leveraging of technology, online preparatory materials for students to reference and practice before attending, allowing time for in-person practice and return demonstration with instructor feedback, and evaluation of student competence at the end of the session. The lack of evidence for best practices in suturing education for student midwives highlights interprofessional suturing education-where midwives, medical students, and obstetric interns learn together-as a promising area for future research. Optimizing student competence through interprofessional education enhances new midwives' skills and confidence and fosters collaboration and trust among professions with shared clinical responsibilities, ultimately improving outcomes for providers and patients.