Champions for Change: Nurses Driving Change for Normal Birth Workshop

Champions for Change: Nurses Driving Change for Normal Birth Workshop
October 19, 2021 | Vancouver, B.C.

The 2012 Champions for Change: Nurses Driving Change for Normal Birth workshop invited maternity care nurses to share their insight and expertise on supporting normal birth at the patient level. To showcase the expertise of nurses while encouraging inter-professional discourse, each session was presented by a registered nurse paired with a midwife, family doctor, obstetrician, anesthesiologist or another nurse. Each speaker brought a unique perspective, applying the nursing practices and expert knowledge that support normal birth. The 106 participants, mostly labour and delivery nurses, traveled from across British Columbia to attend the event.

Click here to download the summary report.

The Thank You Nurse Video

This video was created in celebration of the commitment maternity nurses have to their patients. It featuring mothers thanking the nurses who helped them the day their baby was born. The footage was shown during the Champions for Change event. After the event the footage was edited into one video and posted on YouTube. You can view the video here.

The Workshop Schedule

Click here to download the workshop schedule.

The Workshop Presentations

• Welcome and Opening Statements
Pam O’Sullivan RN, MBA and Janet Walker, RN, MSN

• Keys to Success: Paving the Way for Normal Birth
Lori Wolfe, RN, MSN, IBCLC and Jalana Grant, CD, BDT(DONA)
An overview of an inter-professional collaborative care program, the South Community Birth Program, highlighting the benefits of group medical care and education (Connecting Pregnancy), and care provided by nurses and doulas;

• My Labour and Birth Guide: A New Model for Birth Plans
Karen Buhler, MD, CCFP and Erica Chhoa, BSc, MPH
Following a survey of nurses, care providers and women, a new model for a consumer driven birth guide was presented. This guide will be trialed at BC Women’s Hospital in the near future;

• You’ve Gotta Move It: Mobility in Labour
Isabelle Baribeau, RN,  BSc, BSN, BA, MSN (candidate) and Linda Knox, RM
A review of the biomechanical aspects of giving birth. The presenters demonstrated how a woman’s level of mobility can help or hinder her labour and practical ways that nurses can support and encourage mobility in labour;

• “Give Me Drugs Nurse!”: Effective Use of Medication in Labour
Isabelle Baribeau, RN,  BSc, BSN, BA, MSN (C) and Giselle Villar, MD, FRCPA
An overview of both the pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain management options available to labouring women;
(This is the link to the question period for this presentation)

• Stop, Look and Listen, Baby: Intermittent Auscultation Skills
Ruth Dueckman, RN, BSN, MSc Public Health and Lee Saxell, RM, MA
A discussion of the appropriate applications of intermittent auscultation and electronic fetal monitoring and the benefits and risks of using each technique;
(This is the link to the question period for this presentation)

• “I Have an Idea”: Getting Started with Nursing Research
Wendy Hall, RN, Ph.D and Alison Rolfe, RN, BScN, Doula
A review of the essential elements of a good research question followed by a brainstorming session to identify viable research questions and their associated research methods;

• Taking It to the Street: Being Champions for Change
Jan Christilaw, MD, FRCSC, MHSc
A summary statement of the day’s presentations and the various ways nurses can support normal birth.

Conference sponsored by: BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre; Perinatal Services BC; Power to Push Campaign & Best Birth Clinic