I came across this video on youtube. Apparently John Hopkins University is using a pregnant robot to teach OB/GYN patients. It is amazing how far we have deviated from normal and natural childbirth, and are even training our future doctors on robots. It is no wonder so many doctors try to intervene and "manage" every aspect of labor and delivery. =(
5 comments:
I think it is sort of awesome that they can be video taped and learn better ways of dealing with patients. I think practice makes perfect. But it's sort of like going to a beauty school...I'd rather they practice a bunch of times on a pretend head than on my head. You know? I will never forget the girl at the school, who's hands were shaking with fright. I thought she was going to pass out while trimming my hair. She made me nervous. If a woman is having a baby, the last thing you want to feel is nervous about the people helping you. I had a resident deliver Katie but my doctor was standing right there and I was FINE with it. just my little opinion...
Vicky, I agree that you don't want someone shaking and being nervous, but at the same time they are touting this robot as allowing them to see what a real labor is like. I just don't get it. The best way for them to see real labor is to observe actual childbirth and attend women having real babies - no robot can simulate that. And no matter how many times you attend a plastic one, it cannot possibly prepare you for a real one. The only thing it will do is desensitize you the human component. It seems to reinforce the woman being a passive bystander, and there is so much more to labor and delivery than just having it "done" to us.
I agree with Vicky. The resident delivered Xavier all by herself and Andre. My on-call OB never even came to the hospital.
At Banner Desert they do all kinds of "robot simulations". It's a teaching hospital to teach all different scenarios prior to going into the hospital to "observe" and learn, not instead of the observation aspect. They aren't going to save a "life" on a robot then get thrown into it in the e.r. without an attending.
Just to clarify - I am NOT saying residents cannot/should not deliver. I think quite the opposite. Which is why using a robot for delivery practice is ridiculous.
What I AM saying is that labor/delivery is about the mom's needs and watching out for the baby's health. A robot simulation CANNOT replace that human interaction. And it's not like baby-catching in and of itself is life or death where you need to practice it on a robot! (How many babies have been born in emergency situations without an OB or midwife in attendance? And the majority of those moms and babies are fine.)
It CAN be life or death in unique situations (ie shoulder dystocia) but the robot CANNOT simulate those kinds of experiences. So why the robot? The vast majority of births are safe and the residents should be learning about how to connect with moms and babies while keeping them safe, not how a doll comes out of a plastic vagina. It's like teaching someone how to be a mom by giving her a Suzy Cries A Lot doll. You cannot teach human interaction that way.
Interesting fact. Very few OBs have witnessed a natural birth from beginning to end. OK, leave out from beginning. They have not even labor sat. Holding the space. I can see that with a robot simulation. They sit, they watch, they apply some warm compresses to the plastic bottom. They sit, they pray, they rub the robots lower back. After the birth, they sit, they wait, leave the plastic cord intact until it stops pulsing. Yeah, maybe this simulator is perfect for teaching the future docs who will soon be expected to assimilate. It is waaaay too expensive for teaching hands on skills that are devoid of the emotion and adreneline that is part of real emergency scenarios.
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