Instructions:
Using the background of your Zoom virtual classroom as a teaching tool to supplement student learning is an idea Robin Elise Weiss and Janelle Durham shared with me. As you introduce the topic of cesareans, let the families on your virtual call know that you will be using the operating room as your virtual background, so they are not surprised when it pops up. Switch your virtual background to the OR view and position yourself appropriately. (Remember to have tested this out prior to going live, so you know how and where to sit or stand and how to point items out.) As you discuss the procedure, you may want to point out features in the OR that they should know about.
Some points of interest:
- The baby warmer
- Where support person sits
- Surgeon locations
- Anesthesiologist location
- The operating room table, lights and other equipment.
The images I use do not have a person undergoing surgery, but it may be helpful to have an image with a person on the table, so they could see the drapes that prevent them from seeing the surgery, how their hands might be positioned and how it looks to have health care providers around the table. You might also choose an image with the baby out and on the birth parent’s chest.As I talk about the procedure, I am pointing out the different “points of interest” in the room for them to see. I use my finger and it does take practice (like a weatherperson on TV) to have this part look smooth and natural. I fill in my conversation with what the family can expect, the importance of the support person going over to the warmer, and lots of other details. The image helps them understand more clearly what I am talking about.
Talking Points:
April is Cesarean Awareness Month and, in the USA, the national cesarean rate is just shy of 32%. While this number is edging down ever so slowly, the fact that one in three people who give birth in the US do so by major surgery takes one’s breath away. It is acknowledged that approximately half of all cesareans are considered “unnecessary.” Doing too many cesareans (and doing too few, as is the case in some places around the world) is harmful not only to the current parent-baby dyad but also to the parents' future reproductive health down the road. For the families in our classes, it is important that they understand appropriate reasons for a cesarean, what the procedure involves (and what their choices are during a cesarean birth) and how their recovery and postpartum experience may be different. When we are teaching virtually, as in person classes are not safe to hold currently, you can use a virtual background behind you that supplements the topic you are covering. In the case of cesareans, you can use an operating room with a baby warmer.
Modifications:
You can use virtual backgrounds to demonstrate many things. You might use a picture of a typical labor and birth room, pointing out the squat bar, birth ball, rocking chair and support person bed, for example. If you teach people who are having a community birth (home or birth center), you can use an image from a local birth center to enhance your discussion. You can even send the virtual birth room backgrounds to the families in your classes and they can use them too, and actually “see” themselves in the space during your classes.