Antenatal Teaching Plan - Case Study Example

An Antenatal Teaching Plan (36 weeks gestation focusing on a group of 8 couples ). An Antenatal Teaching Plan is developed during the stage of a 36 weeks gestation period and the plan includes the stages of assessment or determining the audience and the aims and objectives of the plan; the planning of research topic to be introduced, along with the content to be presented as also the learning outcomes and teaching strategies. The time and place will also be considered and the next stage would be related to implementation and the introduction of the plan as also the seating and environmental considerations including feedback. The final stage is the evaluation of the plan through questionnaires given to the attendees or as verbal feedback. a. ASSESSMENT: The Teaching Plan is geared towards a group of 8 couples focusing especially on first time mothers and pregnant women at their 36 weeks gestation period and the teaching sessions will be on pregnancy complications and pain relief as well as antenatal care. The audience will thus be pregnant women at advanced stages of pregnancy (36 weeks at least) and the teaching sessions would complement their visits to nursing home and to the gynecological units and clinics. These teaching sessions are meant to provide first time mothers and women pregnant for the first time lessons on antenatal care and what they should do or not do during and after pregnancy (Stoppard, 1998, p.33) and how they are expected to manage pain relief options during pregnancy. The audience here however comprises of 8 couples indigenous and Caucasian couples and all these couples had the common condition of having children for the first time. The women were all pregnant for the first time, so naturally slightly nervous and anxious and eager to learn more about their pregnancy, the pain relief options and the care required for the child. Among target audience, all the couples are young and the average age is below 35 years and all of them are Caucasian. The objective of the teaching plan is this case is to provide adequate teaching lessons to the first time mothers so that they could be properly trained and well informed when they go through the process of birth and understand all the aspects of childbirth and pregnancy including how to relieve themselves or overcome pain during pregnancy. The objectives of the plan are thus to make first time mothers well informed not just about their own health and pregnancy but also about social and family situations at this time, and the needs of the new born and how they could manage pain relief during pregnancy. b. PLANNING The next stage is to identify the teaching strategies including research topics, learning outcomes and content that is to be presented during the teaching process as also the plan. The teaching will be spread over two 45 minute sessions on pain relief and other issues during pregnancy. There will be theoretical discussions and practical demonstrations. The Research Topics included in the teaching plan include: 1. Non Pharmacological Pain relief 2. Pain relief for early stage of labour and discussions on what is early stage. 3. Use of hot packs, hot showers, position changes, tens machine, calm music 4. Pharmacological pain relief use as in using Pethidine, Nitrous gas, Epidural at the later stage of the labour 5. Session will include a tour of labour ward 6. Demonstration of the use of nitrous oxide, so participants will know how to use the gas. 7. End session will include feedback and an evaluation form. The learning outcomes of the pregnant mother who attend the teaching session for the two 45 minute sessions will be as follows: 1. Attendees will develop a clear understanding about the process of pregnancy and the needs of the pregnant mothers before, during and after childbirth 2. The women should also know about the process of childbirth, the modes and means of childbirth, the surgical and other procedures involved, the process of labour and pain and support that they might get in case of complications during labour 3. The couples will understand how to deal specifically with pain and what are the relief options during pregnancy and labour. 4. The first time mothers will also be given the details of the labour process, the tools involved to make the labour process easier. 5. All clinical and gynecological procedures will have to be well understood and the specific action of medicines taken will also have to be noted by the women 6. The pharmacological and non pharmacological pain relief options and the effects of medicines and other equipments will be provided in detail 7. An evaluation or feedback given in the form of a questionnaire to be completed would help to determine what the participants learnt and what they expected from the sessions. The content to be presented as teaching material would be a notes, journal articles, a wide range of books, and other study material and newspaper and magazine reports, articles, videos and audios could also be used as teaching materials. Latest newspaper and magazine reports on pregnancy and childbirth and articles related to complications in pregnancy and pain relief options during pregnancy and labour could be provided (Chamberlain 1992, p.45-49). The aim is to make the couples more aware of the various aspects of pregnancy and to show them that there may be multiple options of handling problems before, during and after childbirth. Video presentations and audio presentations along with interviews with pregnant and first time mothers could also be helpful in understanding specific conditions during childbirth and the audience could also relate to other mothers and women who may have experienced the same conditions and feelings and specifically pain conditions. The videos and audios thus could help the teaching sessions and evoke positive reactions from the attendees who may also be eager to share their own experiences with other people. (also in Chamberlain 1992) Reading and collecting articles on pregnancy and childbirth and asking the attendees of the sessions to collect their own articles on pain relief options or even write their own notes could be helpful in encouraging the sharing of experiences among first time mothers. It is expected that a lot can be learnt from sharing experiences with others so the eight couples sharing their experiences would mean an enriching experiential learning for all involved. The time and place would be a teaching session classroom at the clinic and the 45 minute 2 sessions teaching program would include audience who are at least at their 36th – 40th week of pregnancy. The teaching class would exclusively focus on how to handle pain during and before labour. Light refreshments would be provided during the sessions. The teaching strategies that could be used include: 1. Group discussions 2. Video and audio presentations including video clippings of the process of pregnancy and childbirth and audios of women who have experienced childbirth, either complicated or a relatively easy and simple one. 3. Power point presentations and other conference presentations on the different stages of pregnancy and childbirth and different modes of pain 4. Distribution of journal articles and newspaper and magazine articles on the nature of pregnancy and the pain relief options 5. Practical notes and advice given directly by the nursing staff about the methods of pain relief that should be available to first time mothers when they experience their first labour. 6. Notes, articles and chapters of books for cases of complications or medical needs during pregnancy would also be presented Some of the articles that could be used as study material would be - Music Reduces Sensation and Distress of Labor Pain - Sasitorn Phumdoung, and Marion Good The Latent Phase of Labor: Diagnosis and Management - Betsy Greulich, and Beth Tarrant Anaesthetist provided labour analgesia - J. Bamber_ Labor and Birth – at pregnancyinfo.net Some of the medicines and equipment that will be studied include: Non Pharmacological Pain relief - Pain relief for early stage of labour and discussions on what is early stage Use of hot packs, hot showers, position changes, tens machine, calm music and such techniques and tools can reduce pain significantly during pregnancy and labour. As Phumdoung and Good (2003, p 56-57) have noted music could be a very effective method of pain relief in pregnant women. Use of acupuncture during labor could also be considered as effective pain relief approach (Nesheim and Kinge, 2006, p.442) Pharmacological pain relief use as in using medicines such as Pethidine, Nitrous gas, Epidural at the later stage of the labour The use of nitrous oxide to reduce pain (Bishop, 2007, p.308) Use of labour analgesia could also be suggested for pain relief (Bamber 2006, p.139) The aim is to provide comprehensive subjective and objective information about pregnancy, and pain relief options to the couples who will be attending the 45 minutes sessions. c. IMPLEMENTATION The stage of implementation involves actually carrying out the teaching plan and the entire procedure from admissions to introductory classes and from practical sessions, seating arrangements, final question time at the end of the course, group discussions and feedback. After the couples are admitted to the teaching sessions they begin by introducing themselves to others in the group and each couple thus participates in an introductory session with all others and get to know the others and there is sense of empathy and feeling of mutual understanding as most tend to recognize the needs of the other in the groups. The introductory session is followed by a session of identifying each other’s problems and suggesting solutions and this helps the teaching staff to gauge how the group already tackles the problems and situations and especially problems related to pain complications and what they need to learn and what are the practical issues and problems faced by the group. Here the schedule for weeks in drawn up. First 45 minute session (SESSION – A) Individuals introduce themselves, their families and their particular conditions and unique situations and also talk about their problems if any. The teaching session begins with staff providing notes on the topic of pregnancy, childbirth and pain relief in general Question answer time on the specific issues raised during introduction and after reading the notes, what more has been learnt and how situations could be handled are further discussed (Stoppard, 1998, p.51) More journal articles and research notes are provided and discussed and this time the topic would be on the non pharmacological pain relief options during different stages of pregnancy Power point presentation of the stages of pregnancy and the possible complications for each stage, the possible medical procedures ,as well as painful situations will be discussed Journal articles and articles downloaded from the web are also identified and discussed. Articles collected by the attendees are also taken up for discussions These are for group discussions and questions and answers are posed and presented by the attendees as they ask each other questions about issues that have already been discussed in the presentations and discussion sessions This session is about the process of childbirth, the procedures involved, the medical and surgical conditions and the medicines that have to be taken for pain relief. All relevant articles and notes are discussed (Phumdoung, 2003, p.54). This provides an introduction for the next session which will be more on pharmacological means of relieving pain. Second Session – Pharmacological means of Pain Relief (SESSION – B) The specific feminine problems during childbirth, the complications in first time mothers and pregnant women are discussed and participants share their knowledge and experiences through discussions The question and answer time again focuses on what the women have learnt and how they should tackle the problems or complications during childbirth and especially the non pharmacological methods of handling labour pain as through music or hot packs. This is followed by group discussion and mutual problem solving (Stoppard, 1998, p.84-86) Video presentations on women’s experiences and audio presentations on childbirth, pregnancy and relevant issues are used at this stage This session also comprises of question times and group discussion where questions are raised on the various aspects of pregnancy and the different ways of tackling pain – both pharmacologically and non pharmacologically This session will also have a summary of all the discussions and the articles, notes presented at the workshop as also the questions and issues raised, the power point and video, audio presentations used and a recapitulation of what has been learnt Finally some time will be kept exclusively for feedback and farewell sessions where participants discuss what they learnt and how they will take their experiences and knowledge further and use during the process of labour. d. EVALUATION: The final week of the teaching session will be completely evaluative where questionnaires will be presented to the participants to provide their views on the sessions and they will also be encouraged to provide verbal feedback and opinions about the sessions. REFERENCES: Bamber J. (2006)Focus on: Obstetrics Anaesthetist provided labour analgesia Current Anaesthesia & Critical Care 17, 131–141 Bishop JT. 2007 Administration of nitrous oxide in labor: expanding the options for women.J Midwifery Womens Health. May-Jun;52(3):308-9. Chamberlain G (1992) ABC of Antenatal care. British Medical Journal Greulichand Betsy Tarrant Beth (2007) The Latent Phase of Labor: Diagnosis and Management. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health Volume 52, No. 3, May/June Nesheim BI, Kinge R. (2006)Performance of acupuncture as labor analgesia in the clinical setting. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand.;85(4):441-3. Phumdoung Sasitorn, and Good Marion (2003) Music Reduces Sensation and Distress of Labor Pain Pain Management Nursing, Vol 4, No 2 (June),: pp 54-61 Stoppard, Miriam. (1998).Antenatal care / Miriam Stoppard. London : Dorling Kindersley Read More