Model to practice manual extraction of placenta

Project Overview

We are building a model to help family physicians, obstetricians, midwives, medical students and others learn to manually extract a placenta from a uterus. This device could reduce maternal morbidity and mortality in the US and around the world. Retained placenta, defined as the failure of the placenta to deliver within 30 minutes after birth, occurs in approximately 3 percent of vaginal deliveries. If not removed, life-threatening hemorrhage and other complications can occur. Postpartum hemorrhage is the number one cause of maternal death in developing countries and still a significant cause in developed countries like the United States.

Currently, there is no model to practice manual extraction of the placenta. It occurs infrequently enough that maternity care providers often find themselves needing to manage retained placenta for the first time when they are in practice in a rural or other area without experienced backup. While the steps of manual extraction can be read in a textbook, learning the skill would be greatly enhanced by a tactile experience with a model.

The model, if low-cost and reusable, would be rapidly incorporated into the teaching of the Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics and Basic Life Support in Obstetrics courses. These courses have been taken by over 150,000 maternity care providers in over 60 countries.