Birth Complications Online Course(s) & Continuing Education
Access the latest clinical skills and research for Birth Complications for PREGNANCY, LABOUR & CHILDBIRTH professional training. These Birth Complications online courses provide practice-changing skills and valuable perspectives from leading global experts. This Birth Complications education has been accredited for a variety of CEUs / CERPs and can be accessed on-demand, at your own pace.


Sarita Bennett, DO, grew up in the Appalachian Mountains in traditions that valued self-reliance and resourcefulness. After experiencing hospital birth in 1978, she began to understand why her elders had told her that birth belongs at home. Sarita began practicing midwifery in 1980 to provide the option she had been looking for in her community and couldn’t find. Her education was experiential and supplemented by any resource available. In 1994, she entered the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine and, upon graduating with honors, completed a community-based Family Medicine Residency, returned to her hometown in WV, and opened a Family Medicine clinic providing full-spectrum care. From 2013 - 2021, Dr. Bennett lived in the Charlottesville, VA, area where she trained midwifery and physician assistant students while providing care for home birth families and at her free-standing birth center. She is currently enjoying being retired, living back home in the mountains of WV, and watching the next chapter of life begin to unfold.
Topic: Understanding Shocks as it Relates to Estimated Blood Loss - [View Abstract]
This session addresses the competencies midwives need to manage complications and emergencies regardless of the situation, and when or where it occurs. How do we prepare for the many possibilities that can come a midwife’s way and feel confident in our abilities to think on our feet and work together for optimal outcomes? How do we improve our teamwork and ability to respond? After an emergency is over, what tools can we use to evaluate how to improve our practice? How do we heal our own trauma? We will take a look at ways to answer these questions with a focus on improving communication, teamwork, and leadership skills.

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Updates in Obstetric Hemorrhage Prevention, Recognition, and Management: Individual devices, Bundles, and Clinical Pathways for Saving Lives in Low Resource settings

Professor Suellen Miller is Director of the Safe Motherhood Program and Professor, UCSF Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Professor Miller has been practicing as a certified nurse-midwife since l977, and is the author of the Hesperian Foundations’ “A Book for Midwives”. She conducts both qualitative and quantitative research, mainly in lower resourced settings, primarily focused on maternal survival and maternal health. Her studies include contraceptive research in Africa and Asia, misoprostol clinical trials in Tibet and India, the clinical trials of the Non-pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG), and the continuum of maternal care in Peru, Dominican Republic, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Timor Leste, and Tanzania, among other reproductive and sexual health projects and programs.. The author of over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, Professor Miller is co-author of “Beyond Too Little Too Late, Too Much Too Soon,” in the Lancet 2016 Maternal Health Series.
Despite some advances in individual technologies and strategies, hemorrhage remains one of the major killers of pregnant, childbearing, and postpartum women, especially in lower resourced settings. Maternal mortalities and morbidities have actually risen in many of these places, including in some higher resourced settings, such as the US. In this presentation we will review some of the newer innovations in hemorrhage prevention, recognition, and management, such as the improvised, low cost uterine balloon tamponade, non-pneumatic anti-shock garment, use of standardized blood mats, community distribution of oral/sublingual misoprostol, a uterine balloon that releases Tranexamic Acid, drones for blood delivery in remote areas, and more. We will discuss the influence on Ministries of Health and program managers of the World Health Organization’s recommendations on technologies for PPH. We will then describe and discuss why PPH bundles may be a more efficient way to package and train on technologies and strategies.

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