Project period: 2014-2018
The RCOG’s Essential Obstetrics Skills (EOS) training focuses on early warnings, timely intervention and respectful care for women, girls and those who are pregnant, during pregnancy and childbirth. The training is aimed at multi-disciplinary teams in low-resource settings and is designed to give them the tools to prevent or promptly treat emergencies to give women and their babies the best chance of recovery. It also highlights the importance of communication, teamwork and referral.
Such training is key to improving access to high quality services. But it can only work when it is locally owned and driven. Between 2015 and 2017, the RCOG partnered with two hospitals in Uganda to train Expert Trainers to deliver respectful emergency obstetric care.
In partnership with Kitovu Hospital in Uganda, the Excellence in Obstetric Skills programme (2014-2016) delivered RCOG EOS training to multi-disciplinary health professionals in the region. Kitovu is a world-renowned fistula centre so particular attention was given to training on preventing or managing obstructed labour to reduce the likelihood of an obstetric fistula.
This programme supported 154 healthcare professionals who demonstrated improved knowledge on the emergency referral process and their clinical skills in the delivery of high quality emergency obstetric care.
In 2017, the partnership expanded to include Masaka Regional Referral Hospital in a one-year programme titled Resilience in Obstetric Skills. Building on the success of the Excellence project, this programme developed a cohort of 20 Expert Trainers to deliver the EOS training themselves. In addition to this new local teaching resource, the programme improved referral pathways by training Referral Champions, to increase communication and collaboration between health facilities.
The RCOG is continuing to seek collaborative opportunities to deliver EOS training globally.