Name: Enhancing perinatal care through the PIPE-MC project
Uploaded: 2023-08-11T05:44:03.548Z
Duration: 328.9

Louise Everitt.mp4

Louise Everitt v2.vtt

Louise Everitt

{{00:00:12}}
So the project is to build capacity
for maternity clinicians which

{{00:00:18}}
includes obstetricians, midwives,
GPs, child and family health nurses.

{{00:00:22}}
Anyone who works with women
from pregnancy to the first

{{00:00:26}}
year after they've had a baby.

{{00:00:29}}
To help them gain skills, knowledge
and confidence around working with

{{00:00:33}}
women with psychosocial concerns.

{{00:00:36}}
The project's actually my PhD and
in my clinical work, I work a lot

{{00:00:41}}
with vulnerable women in this space
and I recognize that maternity

{{00:00:46}}
clinicians just felt that they
didn't know what to do in this space.

{{00:00:52}}
So they shy away from asking
questions, which you know, it's

{{00:00:56}}
really important to the women.

{{00:00:58}}
In Australia, maternal suicide is
really one of the leading causes of

{{00:01:03}}
maternal death and while we don't,
those figures are very small, it

{{00:01:07}}
does mean that it represents a lot
of that's going on for women behind

{{00:01:11}}
the scenes with their mental health.

{{00:01:13}}
So it's something that we need
maternity clinicians to feel

{{00:01:17}}
more confident and be trained in.

{{00:01:26}}
So the project has three phases.

{{00:01:28}}
The initial one was to co-design the
actual workshop that we developed and

{{00:01:33}}
the augmented reality resources, which
people can view after they've done

{{00:01:38}}
the workshop on a online platform.

{{00:01:41}}
The second phase was to actually implement
and evaluate it across Australia.

{{00:01:47}}
So we went to, I think we did 17
face-to-face and eight online.

{{00:01:54}}
And we did pre and post tests
so we checked out what people

{{00:01:58}}
felt before and afterwards.

{{00:01:59}}
So we collected a lot of data around that.

{{00:02:01}}
So we need to analyze all the data
that we've gathered and see, has the

{{00:02:06}}
workshop actually made a difference,
and we hope to publish those papers.

{{00:02:10}}
The third phase is to develop a
micro-credential through Western

{{00:02:15}}
Sydney University to train facilitators
to actually run the project.

{{00:02:20}}
And then they'll be able to have
the resources and they'll be able to

{{00:02:23}}
then run the pipe workshops in their
local health district or service.

{{00:02:29}}
So we're hoping that the more people
who do the training, the more access

{{00:02:35}}
more maternity clinicians will have
to the resources that we've developed.

{{00:02:45}}
So what makes this area much more
of a grey area is, for instance in

{{00:02:49}}
maternity care, every time you come you
need to do a woman's blood pressure.

{{00:02:54}}
And if the blood pressure goes up,
then we have a set line of treatment.

{{00:02:58}}
You know, we have to do.

{{00:03:00}}
We asked them other questions,
if they have other symptoms, we

{{00:03:04}}
would get them to do a urine test.

{{00:03:07}}
If they did have high blood
pressure, they'd see an obstetrician,

{{00:03:09}}
they might start on medication.

{{00:03:11}}
There's a really set path
of what would happen.

{{00:03:13}}
Whereas mental health can be so grey.

{{00:03:16}}
Like the woman could have anxiety,
she could have depression at

{{00:03:20}}
the most, the highest obstetric
emergency in mental health is that

{{00:03:25}}
someone has a postpartum psychosis.

{{00:03:27}}
Most people maternity wise, have never
seen somebody have a psychosis, so it's

{{00:03:32}}
hard for us to go, what is that like?

{{00:03:34}}
And a lot of the things that are the
initial symptoms in a mental health

{{00:03:40}}
concern is that you're not sleeping
or you're not eating right, or some of

{{00:03:44}}
those other things, which is exactly
what happens in early pregnancy.

{{00:03:48}}
People don't sleep because
they've got a baby.

{{00:03:50}}
So as maternity clinicians we
often normalize, you're just

{{00:03:54}}
transitioning to parenthood.

{{00:03:56}}
Rather than asking that next deep
question of how are you actually feeling.

{{00:04:02}}
A bit more about the sleeping, because
some of these women haven't slept

{{00:04:05}}
for days and then that's a real risk
that someone might have a psychosis.

{{00:04:14}}
So for me as a midwife, a typical day
is to do antenatal care with women.

{{00:04:21}}
But I have this portfolio where the
women in my caseload actually have mental

{{00:04:26}}
health conditions, substance use, they are
involved in domestic violence, they might

{{00:04:31}}
be homeless, they might come out of jail.

{{00:04:33}}
So it's a little bit more of a specialist
thing, but however the women themselves

{{00:04:38}}
could still have obstetric risks and
they might be normal, midwifery wise.

{{00:04:44}}
So I'm doing all the normal baby checks
and education around that as well.

{{00:04:49}}
What's different to what midwives do
to obstetricians is historically we

{{00:04:54}}
look after well women and when they
develop a complication or deviate from

{{00:05:00}}
normal, because they're well women,
then the obstetricians get involved.

{{00:05:05}}
But these days really there's a lot
of things that obstetricians still

{{00:05:10}}
need to be involved and talk to
women who don't have complications.

{{00:05:14}}
But also midwives need to be
involved with the women who

{{00:05:17}}
have obstetric risks as well.

{{00:05:19}}
So it's really around us
working collaboratively.

So the project is to build capacity
for maternity clinicians which

includes obstetricians, midwives,
GPs, child and family health nurses.

Anyone who works with women
from pregnancy to the first

To help them gain skills, knowledge
and confidence around working with

The project's actually my PhD and
in my clinical work, I work a lot

with vulnerable women in this space
and I recognize that maternity

clinicians just felt that they
didn't know what to do in this space.

So they shy away from asking
questions, which you know, it's

In Australia, maternal suicide is
really one of the leading causes of

maternal death and while we don't,
those figures are very small, it

does mean that it represents a lot
of that's going on for women behind

So it's something that we need
maternity clinicians to feel

The initial one was to co-design the
actual workshop that we developed and

the augmented reality resources, which
people can view after they've done

The second phase was to actually implement
and evaluate it across Australia.

So we went to, I think we did 17
face-to-face and eight online.

And we did pre and post tests
so we checked out what people

So we collected a lot of data around that.

So we need to analyze all the data
that we've gathered and see, has the

workshop actually made a difference,
and we hope to publish those papers.

The third phase is to develop a
micro-credential through Western

Sydney University to train facilitators
to actually run the project.

And then they'll be able to have
the resources and they'll be able to

then run the pipe workshops in their
local health district or service.

So we're hoping that the more people
who do the training, the more access

more maternity clinicians will have
to the resources that we've developed.

So what makes this area much more
of a grey area is, for instance in

maternity care, every time you come you
need to do a woman's blood pressure.

And if the blood pressure goes up,
then we have a set line of treatment.

We asked them other questions,
if they have other symptoms, we

If they did have high blood
pressure, they'd see an obstetrician,

There's a really set path
of what would happen.

Like the woman could have anxiety,
she could have depression at

the most, the highest obstetric
emergency in mental health is that

Most people maternity wise, have never
seen somebody have a psychosis, so it's

And a lot of the things that are the
initial symptoms in a mental health

concern is that you're not sleeping
or you're not eating right, or some of

those other things, which is exactly
what happens in early pregnancy.

People don't sleep because
they've got a baby.

So as maternity clinicians we
often normalize, you're just

Rather than asking that next deep
question of how are you actually feeling.

A bit more about the sleeping, because
some of these women haven't slept

for days and then that's a real risk
that someone might have a psychosis.

So for me as a midwife, a typical day
is to do antenatal care with women.

But I have this portfolio where the
women in my caseload actually have mental

health conditions, substance use, they are
involved in domestic violence, they might

be homeless, they might come out of jail.

So it's a little bit more of a specialist
thing, but however the women themselves

could still have obstetric risks and
they might be normal, midwifery wise.

So I'm doing all the normal baby checks
and education around that as well.

What's different to what midwives do
to obstetricians is historically we

look after well women and when they
develop a complication or deviate from

normal, because they're well women,
then the obstetricians get involved.

But these days really there's a lot
of things that obstetricians still

need to be involved and talk to
women who don't have complications.

But also midwives need to be
involved with the women who

So it's really around us
working collaboratively.

Expert Insight

Join Louise Everitt, an experienced midwifery consultant who talks about her PhD project: Perinatal Interprofessional Psychosocial Education for Maternity Clinicians (PIPE-MC) that aims to build capacity for maternity clinicians improving their skills and knowledge working with women with psychosocial concerns. Louise outlines how the project will be implemented in three phases, along with the different goals of each phase. She also explains how mental health adds more complexity determining treatments in perinatal care.