Programme overview
Introduction:
Maternal and neonatal safety, covering obstetric emergencies, early warning scores and drills, is the subject of this 5-day course for maternity nursing, midwifery, obstetric, neonatal and unit management staff, who produce a Maternity Safety Improvement Plan with a drills schedule and dashboard. Many maternity units miss early signs of maternal or newborn deterioration, rehearse haemorrhage and shoulder dystocia rarely and track harm without a shared dashboard. Nominees already care for women and newborns or lead a maternity unit, and teaching is by simulation of obstetric emergency drills. CoreConcept Training Center delivers this maternal and neonatal safety course.
Course Objectives:
- Assess maternal and newborn harm patterns and safety culture in a maternity unit using a structured current-state review
- Apply maternal and newborn early warning charts to recognise deterioration and escalate with SBAR to the right senior clinician
- Lead team responses to postpartum haemorrhage, severe pre-eclampsia, shoulder dystocia and maternal sepsis using staged protocols and emergency carts
- Plan, run and debrief in-situ skills drills and newborn resuscitation readiness checks on the labour ward
- Control high-risk maternity medicines, fetal monitoring governance and infant security and identification arrangements
- Build a maternity dashboard and audit cycle and turn perinatal incident learning into a Maternity Safety Improvement Plan
Target Audience:
- Midwives responsible for the care of women in labour, at birth and in the postnatal period
- Obstetric nurses responsible for antenatal and postnatal ward observations and escalation of concerns
- Neonatal nurses responsible for newborn assessment, resuscitation readiness and special care admissions
- Obstetricians and neonatologists who lead the clinical response to emergencies on the labour ward
- Labour ward and maternity unit coordinators responsible for staffing, drills and daily safety routines
- Maternity practice development and quality staff responsible for audits, dashboards and perinatal reviews
Course Outline:
Day 1: Maternal and Newborn Harm, Safety Culture and Unit Baseline
- WHO Maternal Mortality Causes Mapped to Labour Ward Risks
- Newborn Death Causes in the First Week of Life
- Maternity Safety Culture Signals Across Midwifery and Medical Teams
- Avoidable Harm Patterns in Labour, Birth and Postnatal Care
- Maternity Unit Current-State Review Using a Safety Walkthrough Checklist
Day 2: Early Warning Scores, Escalation and Structured Handover
- Modified Early Obstetric Warning Score Parameters and Trigger Bands
- Newborn Early Warning Chart Observations and Escalation Triggers
- Escalation Pathway Design With Response Times and Senior Review
- SBAR Handover Between Midwives, Obstetricians and Neonatal Teams
- Labour Ward Board Round and Safety Huddle Routine
Day 3: Obstetric Emergencies at Team Level
- Postpartum Haemorrhage Four Ts Assessment and Staged Response Protocol
- Severe Pre-eclampsia and Eclampsia Magnesium Sulfate Team Protocol
- Shoulder Dystocia HELPERR Sequence With McRoberts and Suprapubic Pressure
- Maternal Sepsis Screening Tool and Antibiotic Bundle Timing
- Emergency Cart Contents for Haemorrhage, Eclampsia and Dystocia
Day 4: Newborn Readiness, Maternity Medicines, Fetal Monitoring Governance and Infant Security
- Newborn Resuscitation Equipment Checks and Thermal Care Readiness
- Oxytocin and Uterotonic Medicine Safety With Independent Double Checks
- Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring Governance and Interpretation Review Overview
- Infant Security, Identification Bands and Abduction Response Drill
- Perinatal Incident Review and Learning From Maternity Harm Events
Day 5: Obstetric Emergency Simulation and the Maternity Safety Improvement Plan
- In-Situ Postpartum Haemorrhage Simulation With Structured Team Debrief
- Shoulder Dystocia and Eclampsia Skills Drill Rotation Scenarios
- Maternity Dashboard Build With Harm, Escalation and Drill Measures
- Drills Schedule and Maternity Audit Cycle Planning
- Maternity Safety Improvement Plan Completion and Peer Review
Skills You Will Gain:
- Obstetric Early Warning Scoring
- Deterioration Escalation
- Postpartum Haemorrhage Response
- Shoulder Dystocia Manoeuvres
- In-Situ Drill Facilitation
- Newborn Resuscitation Readiness
- Infant Security Planning
- Maternity Dashboard Design
Why Attend This Course:
- Deliver a Maternity Safety Improvement Plan with drills schedule and dashboard to the head of midwifery and the maternity governance group
- Decide when an early warning score calls for senior obstetric or neonatal review and which emergency drills to run first
- Avoid delayed haemorrhage treatment, unrecognised maternal sepsis and unprepared newborn resuscitation that lead to severe harm
- Coach midwives, nurses and junior doctors through in-situ drills and debriefs using the scenarios practised in the course
Conclusion:
Back at work, the participant presents the Maternity Safety Improvement Plan to the head of midwifery, the obstetric and neonatal leads and the maternity governance group. They use it to agree which early warning charts and escalation routes to adopt, which emergency drills to run on the labour ward each month and which harm and escalation measures the maternity dashboard reports. After the first drills cycle, the group should review debrief findings, missed escalations, emergency cart checks and dashboard trends against the baseline and revise the drills schedule where gaps remain.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
What do participants need before the maternal and neonatal safety course?
Participants should already work in a maternity, labour ward or neonatal setting, or lead one, and know routine observations in labour and after birth. Bringing anonymised early warning charts, drill records or dashboard extracts helps them apply the simulation and planning work to their own unit.
How does maternal and neonatal safety differ from a general patient safety or teamwork course?
It centres on mothers and newborns: obstetric early warning, haemorrhage, eclampsia, shoulder dystocia, maternal sepsis, newborn resuscitation and infant security. General improvement methods, incident systems and teamwork models belong to neighbouring courses and appear here only where they support maternity drills and dashboards.
Why do drills matter in maternal and neonatal safety?
Obstetric emergencies are rare for each team yet need a fast, coordinated response. Regular in-situ drills let midwives, obstetricians and neonatal staff rehearse roles, test emergency carts and find system gaps, and simulation-based shoulder dystocia training has been linked with fewer birth injuries.
What do participants take back from the maternal and neonatal safety course?
Participants return with a Maternity Safety Improvement Plan covering early warning and escalation, emergency response protocols, newborn readiness, medicine and infant security controls, a drills schedule and a maternity dashboard with harm and escalation measures ready for the governance group.