Precepting Through Perinatal Emergencies: A Simulation-Based Training for Midwifery Educators

The growth of the midwifery model of care depends on the preparation of new midwives, which necessitates skilled midwifery clinical preceptors. The University of Utah, Rutgers University, and PRONTO International supported by the New Jersey Department of Health, created the Precepting Through Perinatal Emergencies Workshop. We developed this sustainable in-person and virtual preceptor educational content through iterative feedback and pilot testing with active New Jersey midwifery preceptors. The preceptor training centered around introducing preceptors to evidence-based educational tools like the Educational Time Out, a teaching strategy using guided discovery learning concepts, goal setting, peer coaching strategies, and adult learning theories to enhance communication and debriefing skills. The in-person, highly interactive workshops included didactic lessons, role-plays, and 2 high-fidelity person-centered simulation scenarios and debriefs using the model developed by PRONTO International. The initial workshop's success led us to create a facilitation workshop for preceptors to learn how to train others and 3 online asynchronous modules to augment the learning. Midwifery preceptors who completed the facilitator training were equipped with the requisite skills, knowledge, and supplies needed to repeat the training in their home facilities.