Providence Holy Cross Gets $447,000 UniHealth Grant for Emergency Childbirth Training

Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, California received a two-year, $447,000 grant from the UniHealth Foundation to create a simulation training program for the hospital’s team that manages childbirth crises.

The hospital’s Interprofessional Perinatal Simulation Program will use manikins for ongoing training and practice for physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, chaplains and emergency department staff who work with mothers and their babies in labor and delivery, the Mother-Baby Unit and in the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Because complications are rare, clinicians have limited experience in handling crises. Training will be conducted in the appropriate hospital departments to provide learning experiences that are as close to real events as possible.

“Childbirth typically goes smoothly, but a small number of women experience seizures, hemorrhaging, cardiac arrest and other dangerous complications that often come with no warning,” said Tenesa Reid, nurse manager for Labor and Delivery at Providence Holy Cross. “Rapid, skilled response is crucial and, thanks to this grant, we will be able to provide training and practice using simulation that mimics real-life situations.”

In the second year, the program will be expanded to train nursing students with clinical rotations at Providence Holy Cross and at sister hospitals, Providence Tarzana and Providence Saint Joseph medical centers.