Midwives in Guyana bring curriculum into the 21st century
Preparing the new midwives to obtain skills that save lives is the goal of the curriculum update.


Young midwives filling out a partograph, during the attention of a woman in labor in public hospital in Guyana. Photo: U. PENN/Kate McHugh

In November of 2008, the updating of the national curriculum for midwives in Guyana, a collaborative effort sponsored by PAHO CLAP/WR with USAID funding, was completed. Faculty members from midwifery schools worked with officials from the Ministry of Health, the Division of Health Sciences Education, and the Nursing Council to examine the curriculum which dated from the 1980s. As the stakeholders worked on the new curriculum, efforts were made to incorporate a woman-centered philosophy for maternity care. Additions to the curriculum included content on HIV/AIDS, emergency measures for obstetric hemorrhage, and new skills for neonatal assessment and resuscitation. Consultants from the PAHO/WHO Collaborating center at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing facilitated the effort.

Providing high quality education for nurse-midwives in Guyana is difficult because of a significant shortage of faculty members and clinical instructors. Migration of nurse-midwives has decreased their ranks, which makes delivery of pre-service education a real challenge. In-service education and faculty development efforts are handicapped by the nursing and midwifery shortage. PAHO plans to offer on-going faculty development workshops to support a modernized educational model. Nurse-Midwife faculty members showed an interest in learning more internet and computer skills and use of software.

The finished curriculum is in a modular format that promotes adult self-directed learning. It was implemented with the class that started in December 2008. Plans for the future include an effort to train faculty who will staff health science skills labs. Additional plans involve evaluation of the curriculum of the community midwives program, which provides midwifery services in rural areas.