Can hands-on perineal repair courses affect clinical practice?

To determine whether attending a hands-on training workshop in repair of episiotomy and second degree tears changed clinical practice by increasing participants' ability to accurately classify obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) and manage perineal trauma according to best practice. Participating midwives and doctors completed a questionnaire prior to and 8 weeks after the one-day workshop. Between October 2002 and May 2004, 208 people attended the courses and 147 (71%) returned a repeat questionnaire. One hundred and thirty three (64%) were dissatisfied with their training prior to performing their first unsupervised perineal repair. Following the workshop there was an increase in participants ability to classify obstetric anal sphincter injuries accurately. There was a change in practice relating to performing a rectal examination before and after repairing perineal trauma – 56/203 (28%) vs 125/141 (89%) – P<0.001. Significantly more participants changed to evidence-based care by converting to the...