Feasibility of an Educational Program for Clinical Educators to Promote Novice Midwives’ Clinical Judgment: A Feasibility Study

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted the clinical practicum programs of student midwives. It is very important for clinical educators to educate novice midwives in clinical settings. The purpose of this study was to develop an educational program for clinical educators to promote clinical judgment of novice midwives during delivery and to evaluate the feasibility of its practicality, acceptability and implementation. Methods: This feasibility study used an exploratory descriptive design with data generated from a questionnaire. The inclusion criteria were midwives assigned to the delivery ward who were newly scheduled to educate novice midwives in 2019 or had become a clinical educator within a year or two. The program consisted of e-learning (30 minutes) and lecture, simulation and discussion (about 2.5 hours). Descriptive statistics were performed for participant characteristics and evaluation of feasibility. Responses to the open-ended question were sorted into categories. Results: There were nine participants from two facilities. Practicality and acceptability received mostly positive evaluations. However, for a few the simulation scenarios were difficult to understand. Implementation of all the e-learning content was successful, and seminar attendance was 100% from start to finish. Conclusion: We found this e-learning program feasible in terms of practicality, acceptability and implementation. Most of the comments were positive opinions regarding future utilization of novice midwives’ education and clinical utilization of the program, suggesting that the clinical significance of this program was extremely high.