
Sorry about the picture…noone wants Trump on their blog…
Skimming through the British Medical Journal, I came across a blog called
Breaking bad news in maternity care. It’s a lovely piece about the new learning resources I worked on with the Miscarriage Association.
I coordinated the development of these resources, working with the National Director of the Miscarriage Association, the Media Trust and lots of service users and health professionals. Mary Higgins describes them as strong, powerful, upsetting and thought provoking with important learning points. I’m pretty pleased with that.
The resources are online now although we’re not launching them officially until the new Miscarriage Association website is live. But it’s great to see that health professionals are finding them useful already.
There are six films – one each for ambulance crews, A&E staff, GPs and booking in staff supporting women with pregnancy loss and two for anyone talking to women about management of miscarriage and what happens to the remains of their baby. Each one is accompanied by a good practice guide.
Research
- I created a short survey for women and their partners. It asked them the top three things they would like to tell the relevant health professional about their care – and had a free text box too. In the BMJ blog Mary Higgins writes ‘what I say will be remembered for the rest of their life’. And it’s true. Most women who responded remembered exactly what they were told – good or bad – even after 10 or 15 years. It’s so important to get it right.
- I also surveyed health professionals to find out what they and their colleagues found hardest about these situations and where they would like more training.
- I wrote a report on each of these six areas, identifying key learning points and pulling out quotes and experiences we should highlight.
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