Using AR headsets and lifelike models of full-term mothers, trainee
midwives at Middlesex University can take part in fully simulated
births, which the university's clinical staff hope will both hone
their clinical skills and leave them better prepared to face
challenges rarely seen in day-to-day practice.
AR technology offers users an interactive experience in which
objects in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated
information.
Midwifery educator Sarah Chitongo said the AR system allowed
students to understand better the birthing process by displaying an
interactive representation of a patient's anatomy.
"It allows you to see a visual picture of the actual anatomy itself,
which is raised out of the normal body, and you can step in, walk
around and have an internal view," Chitongo told Reuters.
Chitongo cited high-risk problems such as shoulder dystocia - when a
baby's shoulders get stuck in the mother's body - and breech births
- when a baby is born bottom first - as particular rarities for
midwives where AR could help prepare students to cope better and
ultimately to save lives.
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Chitongo believes that younger trainees will embrace the technology
positively as they are of a generation that has largely grown up
with computers and interactive environments.
However, her overarching aim is for midwives to become better
prepared to reduce mortality rates, which are disproportionately
high among ethnic minority pregnancies.
"Currently, here in the UK, it sits at 60% combined, compared to
9.8% in white women," Chitongo said, adding that the issue had not
been meaningfully addressed despite the trend having risen since
2011.
"When you get it right, with a population where it's actually on the
worst side (of the statistics), it means you've got a better and
safer maternity service across the UK."
(Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Ben Dangerfield; Editing by
Gareth Jones)
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