We plan to implement a sustainable, low-cost obstetric emergency simulation training program at a public teaching hospital in India, building on an established partnership between UCLA and the Department of OBGYN at Narendra Modi Medical College (NMMC). This existing relationship provides a strong foundation of trust, shared educational goals, and ongoing faculty engagement, allowing the program to be efficiently implemented and integrated into local training. NMMC is a public, urban, 1050-bed public teaching hospital. It delivers over 8,900 births annually and serves a diverse patient population, with many cases involving maternal health complications.
In partnership with local faculty and trainees, we will deliver hands-on simulations focused on leading causes of maternal morbidity and mortality, including postpartum hemorrhage, trauma, and maternal cardiac collapse. A 2024 needs assessment revealed that physicians and trainees at NMMC frequently manage life-threatening obstetric conditions without access to simulation-based training, highlighting a critical gap this program is designed to address. The training will use reusable, low-cost simulation models and team-based scenarios tailored to real-world resource constraints.
A central component is a train-the-trainer model: local faculty and residents will be trained to independently facilitate simulations, ensuring ownership and long-term sustainability. All equipment, facilitation guides, and digital materials will remain on site and incorporated into routine education.
This project will strengthen clinicians’ preparedness for obstetric emergencies by improving early recognition, communication, and timely initiation of interventions. Modest improvements in response time and coordinated care can translate into meaningful reductions in preventable maternal complications. The program is designed to be scalable, cost-effective, and adaptable to other public teaching hospitals facing similar challenges.
This project will directly benefit obstetric physicians, residents, and trainees at Narendra Modi Medical College (NMMC), as well as the pregnant patients and families they serve. NMMC is a high-volume public teaching hospital where clinicians care for large numbers of medically complex obstetric patients in resource-limited settings, making effective emergency preparedness especially critical.
Trainees will benefit substantially from this program. Residents and fellows are often the first responders during obstetric emergencies, yet many have limited opportunities to practice rare but catastrophic events in a structured, low risk learning environment. Simulation-based training allows trainees to build technical skills, situational awareness, leadership, and team communication, improving confidence and clinical readiness.
Local faculty will also benefit through participation in a train-the-trainer model that strengthens teaching capacity and supports long-term integration of simulation into postgraduate education.
Patients are the ultimate beneficiaries. Improved clinician preparedness leads to earlier recognition of deterioration, faster initiation of evidence-based interventions, and more coordinated team responses during obstetric emergencies. In a high-volume public hospital serving vulnerable populations, these improvements can translate into fewer preventable complications, reduced maternal morbidity and mortality, and safer childbirth experiences.
The expected impact of this project is improved preparedness and performance of frontline obstetric teams during high-risk maternal emergencies, leading to faster recognition of clinical deterioration, better team coordination, and more timely initiation of life-saving interventions. In the short term, the program is expected to increase clinician confidence and competence in managing obstetric hemorrhage, trauma, and maternal cardiac emergencies, as reflected by participant feedback and pre- and post-training assessments.
Beyond the initial training period, the project is intentionally designed for durability and sustained impact. The train-the-trainer model will equip local faculty and senior trainees with the skills to independently design, facilitate, and evaluate simulation sessions, allowing emergency preparedness training to become a routine component of postgraduate education. All simulation equipment, standardized scenarios, facilitation guides, and digital teaching materials will remain on site and be reused and adapted over time to fit evolving clinical needs and resource constraints.
After returning, ongoing impact will be supported through virtual follow-up sessions and mentorship, providing opportunities for continued curriculum refinement, troubleshooting, and faculty development. Lessons learned from implementation, including feasibility, barriers, and effective adaptations in a resource-limited, high-volume setting, will be shared through academic dissemination and open-access educational materials. This approach enables replication of the model at other public teaching hospitals, extending the benefits of the project beyond the initial site and funding period.
We collaboratively developed and implemented a sustainable, low-cost obstetric emergency simulation training program at a high-volume public teaching hospital for local obstetric faculty and trainees in Ahmedabad, India. The training demonstrated a substantial educational impact for interns through chief residents years 1-4. More than half of participants had no prior simulation experience, and following the intervention, significant improvements were observed in knowledge, confidence, teamwork and communication. All simulation equipment, facilitation guides, and digital training materials remained on site to be incorporated into routine postgraduate training at the partner institution. A train-the-trainer model was adopted to ensure local faculty could not only utilize this curriculum, but further create additional scenarios while utilizing the reusable models. The project is anticipated to contribute to real life-saving patient care scenarios that will benefit the local communities served by this large, low-resource hospital in urban India.
