Seed Global Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Ministry of Health, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Ann Glob Health. 2024 Jul 8;90(1):40. doi: 10.5334/aogh.4441. eCollection 2024.
Improving midwifery education is critical to improving maternal and infant health outcomes in Sierra Leone. A significant priority within midwifery education is to strengthen the clinical teaching and students' hands-on experience in the clinical setting. To identify facilitators and challenges within midwifery students' clinical placements and to highlight areas to strengthen the clinical midwifery education system as well as the role of preceptors. We conducted a participatory process mapping with two schools of midwifery in Sierra Leone to detail steps taken by practicing midwives and midwifery faculty when students are placed in clinical settings for midwifery rotations. There were 42 participants from the Bo and Makeni regions of Sierra Leone. Participants included midwifery faculty from the Schools of Midwifery in Makeni and Bo, clinical midwives from two regional government hospitals, clinical midwives from two affiliated community health centers, and midwives from the District Health Management Teams. Three recurring themes emerged in the process. First, there was always some element of preparing or teaching the student. Second, there were administrative tasks to coordinate between the schools, clinical sites, and students, before, during, and after clinical placements. And third, there were elements of communication and collaboration between schools and clinical sites/preceptors that could be improved through shared understanding and standardization. Additional themes were inconsistencies across activities before, during, and after students' clinical placement and limited opportunities and confusion around systems of evaluating all components of the clinical placement experience. This study provides insight into the process of midwifery students' clinical placement and highlights facilitators to be standardized and some modifiable barriers to be addressed. As Sierra Leone and many other similar countries in sub-Saharan Africa attempt to strengthen students' clinical education through educating and developing preceptors, processing mapping can be a useful tool.
提高助产教育对于改善塞拉利昂母婴健康结果至关重要。助产教育的一个重要优先事项是加强临床教学和学生在临床环境中的实践经验。本研究旨在确定助产学生临床实习中的促进因素和挑战，并强调加强临床助产教育系统以及导师作用的领域。我们在塞拉利昂的两所助产学校进行了参与式过程映射，详细描述了实习助产士和助产教师在学生进行助产轮转时将学生安置在临床环境中的步骤。来自塞拉利昂博城和马肯尼地区的 42 名参与者参加了此次研究。参与者包括马肯尼和博城助产学校的助产教师、来自两家地区政府医院的临床助产士、来自两家附属社区卫生中心的临床助产士以及来自地区卫生管理团队的助产士。该过程中出现了三个反复出现的主题。首先，总是有一些准备或教授学生的元素。其次，在临床实习之前、期间和之后，需要协调学校、临床地点和学生之间的行政任务。第三，学校和临床地点/导师之间存在沟通和协作的元素，可以通过共享理解和标准化来改进。其他主题包括学生临床实习前后活动之间的不一致性以及评估临床实习经验所有组成部分的系统机会有限且混乱。本研究提供了对助产学生临床实习过程的深入了解，并强调了需要标准化的促进因素和一些可修改的障碍。随着塞拉利昂和撒哈拉以南非洲的许多其他类似国家试图通过教育和发展导师来加强学生的临床教育，流程映射可以成为一种有用的工具。
