Training for health professionals caring for newborns

Jill is a born teacher, and loves providing hands on training!

A favourite medium is small groups of nurses in the actual wards, teaching at bedside on babies, and in small focus groups with mothers and other family. Feedback from nurses on this has been extremely positive, as their is an immediate connection between theory and practice in their own workplace, and rapid evidence of practice change.

Such intimate groups can also be preceded by talks (didactic lecture) to larger audiences, providing prior theoretical knowledge more easily applied thereafter. In a series of lectures, Jill includes practical demonstrations and rela life examples.Courses focussed on one topic can cover a whole morning, a whole day is needed to combine the theoretical and practical training that bridges Knowledge through Attitude to Practice. Particularly practical training around birth issues requires longer and more free-flow time, births do not come on order.

(Detailed programmes and prospectus available.)

The scope and quality of this training is greatly enhanced when working together with her husband Dr Nils Bergman. He provides the theoretical knowledge on the underlying neuroscience of baby’s brain development, among other things. Jill provides the same broad base translated to more easily understood English, but also additional aspects of developmental care, parent counselling and educational aspects with respect to nurse –parent communication.

On the practical side, she teaches sensory supportive developmental care, skin-to-skin technique and breastfeeding basics in the skin-to-skin position. During courses in hospital venues, while one of us lectures, the other makes preparations with parents and staff for the practical demonstrations. For these to work well, careful preparation is required, and the establishment of an appropriate rapport with the parents. In working together, we also have capacity to do more individual coaching, as well as pre-tests and posts tests, and more formal evaluations.