What is Cervical Dilatation?
Cervical dilatation is a key indicator of labour progression. It helps healthcare providers monitor the opening of the cervix, which allows them to assess how far a woman is in her labour process. Accurate assessment of cervical dilatation helps determine the stage of labour, guide decisions regarding the management of labour, and provide appropriate care and support to the woman.
Assessing cervical dilatation and fetal presentation is important in obstetrics for several reasons:
Timing interventions:
The assessment of cervical dilatation helps healthcare providers determine the appropriate timing for interventions during labour. For example, it can help determine when to administer pain relief medications, when to break the amniotic sac (amniotomy), or when to initiate medical interventions if required.
Prevention of complications:
Accurate assessment of cervical dilatation and fetal presentation can help identify potential complications during labour and delivery. It allows healthcare providers to anticipate and respond to situations such as abnormal fetal heart rate patterns, cord prolapse, or shoulder dystocia. Timely recognition of complications enables appropriate interventions and can help prevent adverse outcomes for both the mother and baby.
Decision-making and planning:
Assessing cervical dilatation and fetal presentation provides important information for healthcare providers to make informed decisions and develop an appropriate birth plan. It helps determine the feasibility of vaginal delivery and guides the choice of interventions or potential need for cesarean section if complications or abnormal presentations are identified. This ensures that the delivery process is safe and tailored to the specific needs of the mother and baby.
How can simulation training help?
Skill development
Simulation training allows medical practitioners to practice and develop their skills in assessing cervical dilatation and fetal presentation. They can gain hands-on experience in a controlled environment before performing these assessments on real patients. This helps build their confidence and proficiency.
Repetition and practice
Simulation training offers the opportunity for repetitive practice. Medical practitioners can repeatedly perform cervical examinations and assess fetal presentation under different conditions and scenarios. This repetition helps improve their muscle memory, coordination, and accuracy in performing these assessments.
Risk-free learning
Simulation training provides a risk-free learning environment where medical practitioners can make mistakes without harm to patients. They can experiment with different techniques, troubleshoot challenges, and refine their skills. This helps them build competence and enhance patient safety when performing these assessments in real clinical settings.
Overall, simulation training offers medical practitioners a controlled, safe, and realistic learning environment to develop and refine their skills in assessing cervical dilatation and fetal presentation. It enhances their competence, confidence, and patient care abilities in obstetrics.
The MODEL-med® Charlie and Charlie’s Mum Obstetric Examination Simulator is designed specifically for medical practitioners to assess cervical dilatation and fetal presentation. The educator simply places the cervix over Charlie’s head and then stretches it until the desired dilation is achieved.
Our product comes with three cervixes, which are the primipara, oedematous and multipara.
After lubricating the cervix with a water-based surgical the head and cervix can then be inserted into the opening at the back of the model. Using this method, the user can have any fetal presentation and cervical dilatation they wish.
See for yourself.