Background: In 2009 the Ryerson Midwifery Education Program identified the need for a standardized sustainable curriculum to teach perineal laceration repair that provided the necessary skills and knowledge to provide learners with basic competencies to refine maximise their opportunities for skill enhancement in the clinical environment.  To this end a reusable, composite simulation-program consisting of e-modules, video, instructor demonstration, and hands-on workshop was developed. In future this curriculum could be offered to other maternity care trainees, even interprofessionally.

Methods: The tripartite curriculum consisted of: two narrated e-modules (theoretical and practical aspects of management and repair); a narrated video demonstrating a complete repair (added in 2012); and a 3-hour workshop involving live demonstration of repairs followed by a hands-on 4:1 preceptor supervised practice using raw 10 cm sections of incised unsliced pork back bacon (simulation pork) with the muscle section to simulate the vaginal tissue component and the fascial overlay to simulate the perineal skin component. This curriculum has been used with 484 midwifery students since 2010 at Ryerson and McMaster universities. To assess the utility of the curriculum participants completed surveys reporting their comprehension at multiple junctures: prior to the e-modules; after watching the video; and after the workshop.

Results: The curriculum was rated as highly effective for teaching suturing skills and perineal laceration management. Students reported significant knowledge acquisition from the tripartite curriculum and the simulation pork perineum.

Conclusions: The curriculum appears to provide a high-fidelity, low-cost, standardized method of teaching foundational skills in perineal repair to maternity care learners.

A high-fidelity, low-cost curriculum for teaching perineal repair skills to maternity care learners