Fatima Alaya | Contributing Writer
Irish secondary school students are privileged with the chance to explore future career prospects in Transition Year, whereby they engage in work placements in their desired areas. For many who toyed with their father’s stethoscope or played nurses growing up, the RSCI MiniMed program seems the ideal opportunity to further explore the medical field. The course encompasses topics from tropical medicine and psychiatry to watching live surgical video broadcasts. It is an incredible opportunity for anyone inclined to experience the realities of medical life and results in a win-win situation, either strengthening passions and dreams or suggesting that a change of direction might be more fulfilling.
It seems odd that an enthusiastic group of 190 young school goers, many of whom had never seen a birth prior to this, were introduced to birth in such a high risk, medicalised enivronment.
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This year the program upped its game with a live video broadcast, veering from routine surgeries such as gall bladder or kidney removals to a live Caesarean section (CS). A CS is an operative procedure, carried out under anesthesia (pain relief), whereby the fetus, placenta and membranes are delivered through an incision in the abdominal wall and uterus. This involves working through seven layers, which is one of the many reasons it is considered a major surgical intervention. It is often associated with emergency or highly medicalised cases, where the mother and/or the fetus are at risk.
So it seems odd that an enthusiastic group of 190 young school goers, many of whom had never seen a birth prior to this, were introduced to birth in such a high risk, medicalised enivronment. As Professor Fergal Malone delivered the baby, the students clapped and cheered in awe. One particular student expressed her strong desire to follow in the Professor’s shoes as she believed it was “amazing to be a part of the process of bringing a life into the world. It was really moving, and I wasn’t expecting that.”
To many who are interested in birth, from midwives and parents to society at large, it seems baffling that this will possibly the foundation of what birth means to these young people. This concern is further cemented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report in 2014, which contradicted the Taoiseach’s claim last year that Ireland is one of the safest countries to have a baby. The Irish maternal mortality rate, at 9 in 100,000 births, is higher than 30 countries worldwide, and 25 countries in Europe have a lower rate than Ireland. In addition, the media uproar surrounding Savita Halappanavar’s death in Galway in 2012 seems highly relevant, along with other maternal mortality cases such as Bimbo Onanuga and Dhara Kivlehan, in highlighting the current poor maternity services and care available here.
To many who are interested in birth, from midwives and parents to society at large, it seems baffling that this will possibly the foundation of what birth means to these young people.
There is no doubt that a CS is a lifesaving intervention and demands incredible holistic skill from an obstetrician. One must manage the pressure of performing major surgery that involves the life of a woman and baby, and combine a high level of knowledge as well as perfect surgical techniques in limited time frame. As a young student midwife, I have come to respect and value such intervention when the life of a woman and or baby is at risk. Nonetheless, with all the stark facts highlighted above, it seems tragic that these school-goers were introduced to medicalised and interventional birth when it could have been an opportunity to promote normal birth. It appears that the element of thrill and excitement superseded the possible impact and influence such an experience can have. Even for medical and midwifery students, who must observe a CS as part of their training and understand the reasons for it to be carried out, most of us find it overwhelming and intrusive.
Whether the spiritual element is relevant to us or not, one cannot deny that birth is the cornerstone to society. A new person enters the world and joins the cycle that is life. With such greatness comes responsibility. We have a responsibility to educate our youth to respect and nurture birth rather than possibly fear it or accept intervention as a norm. It remains to be seen whether a sense of that responsibility has been passed on to the school-goers attending live CS broadcasts at RCSI.
