Perinatal Loss in Practice: What Hospital Staff Need to Know

<div class="">Welcome to my online training program “Perinatal Loss in Practice: What Hospital Staff need to Know”.</div> <div class="">I am very pleased you have decided to take part in this important educational tool to help support you in gaining the necessary knowledge and skills with respect to Perinatal Loss when caring for bereaved families. I hope you gain a lot from this training.</div> <div class="">Welcome and let’s get started!</div>

In this Module, we will begin with an overview of Perinatal loss and how this type of grief can be different to other types of loss. Lesson 1 includes what parental grief looks like for families experiencing the death of their baby and then we will look at the different types of loss from miscarriage to stillbirth to neonatal loss in Lesson 2. In covering these, I will discuss the occurrence, the legal definitions and risk factors for each. In the final lesson (Lesson 3) of this first module, I will discuss the common reactions parents face in the early stages of their loss. Included within each lesson is a range of resources for you that you will be able to download and use in your practice. To get started with Module 1, simply click on the 'Complete and continue' button on the top right corner of your screen.

So we have completed Module 1 and now to Module 2: Challenges for the bereaved parent. We will begin with the topic of challenges for bereaved parents in Lesson 1, followed by lesson 2 where we will consider what health care professionals may often find challenging, when caring for bereaved families. Caring for these families is undoubtedly a difficult area of nursing and obstetrics and I hear many concerns from staff who feed back to me that they just don’t know what to say or do. So let's look at equipping ourselves with the knowledge and understanding of this topic in this Module.

In this module, Module 3 we will cover the front-line aspects of bereavement care. You will learn what parent-centred care means which is underpinned by the extremely important five core goals of that care. This is the backbone of what needs to be done in the hospital setting and this is how I care for families when they are in front of me. These core goals of bereavement care are recommendations from the PSANZ guidelines which informs this module. There is a link to these guidelines in the reference list at the end of this training and I highly recommend you seek these out and have a copy of them at your workplace. This is also a very practical module with tips on the ‘what to say and do’ and how to go about it. This module is a big one so let’s get started!

In Module 4 we will be looking at going home and what this means for families when they leave us in hospital. It is often a big transition from leaving the hospital and integrating back in to their friends and family’s lives and contemplating a return to work. We will discuss the support they may require and also look at lactation after loss. We will also cover what happens when a bereaved family are thinking about trying for another baby and the implications and support they need during this

Module 5 is all about you … the health care professional and supporting you! In this module we will focus on self-care as it’s often neglected despite working in a caring industry and one that can often be quite stressful and overwhelming. We now know how caring for parents experiencing perinatal loss is a difficult specialty and I want you to be aware of what help there is out there for you. I know personally from working in this area, that I have to take the time and focus on what my needs are just as much as what the needs are for the family I am caring for. So let’s get started with Lesson 1 and delve deeper in to what self care means and why it is important.

Congratulations, you have completed the course. Please proceed to the final section of the Program to complete the course requirements.