The aim of the Perinatal Education Programme (PEP) is to improve the care of pregnant women and their newborn infants in all communities by enabling midwives and doctors to manage their own training courses. PEP courses are presented in the form of comprehensive training manuals which use the following principles:

• Promotes self-directed, co-operative learning
• Encourages peer tuition when there are no formal teachers
• Uses a patient-oriented and problem-based method
• Uses question and answers, case studies and protocols
• Encourages problem solving and self assessment
• Teaches knowledge, clinical skills and attitudes
• Emphasises important facts
• Addresses patient care, diagnosis and management

TRADITIONAL METHODS OF PERINATAL TRAINING

Most previous methods of continuous training, especially for nurses, consisted of instructional courses at central hospitals. These traditional courses were expensive and managed by formal tutors. Frequently participants had to leave their homes and places of employment to attend these courses. The content was often inappropriate to the needs of smaller hospitals and clinics and did not address the health care problems of poor, rural communities. The result commonly was disappointment and frustration. Therefore, traditional training courses were often not accessible to staff working in rural areas where maternal and perinatal mortality rates are the highest. Due to lack of funding, few tutors, long distances and the impracticality of moving essential staff away from their homes and workplaces, what was urgently needed was some form of self-help, distance learning programme.

THE AUTHORS OF THE PEP COURSE

Beginning in 1989, the first two PEP manuals were written by a small team of paediatricians, obstetricians and nurses. Later, suggestions and comments by colleagues from all over South Africa were incorporated in an attempt to reach a consensus document on the care of mothers and infants. On an ongoing basis, the results of the final examination in the PEP course, together with ideas from participants, still help to identify minor problems or improvements. As new and better methods of diagnosing and treating patients are found, additions and changes are made to the PEP manuals. In this way, the PEP course is revised and updated and able to meet the ever changing needs of perinatal care.

Many of the educational methods used in the PEP course were inspired by the Perinatal Continuing Education Programme (PCEP), a very successful and internationally used distance learning course in advanced perinatal care developed in the USA (www.pcep.org).

REFERENCES

REFERENCES IN PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS

1. Woods DL and Theron GB. The Perinatal Education Programme. S Afr Med J 1994; 84: 61.

2. Woods DL and Theron GB. The impact of the Perinatal Education Programme on cognitive knowledge of midwives. S Afr Med J 1995; 85: 150-153.

3. Woods DL. An innovative programme for training in maternal and newborn care. Semin Neonatol 1999; 4: 209-216.

4. Theron GB. Improved cognitive knowledge of midwives practising in the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa through the study of a self-education manual. Midwifery 1999; 15: 66-71.

5. Theron GB. Effect of the maternal care manual of the Perinatal Education Programme on the ability of midwives to interpret antenatal cards and partograms. J Perinatol 1999; 19: 432-435.

6. Theron GB. Effect of the maternal care manual from the Perinatal Education Programme on the quality of antenatal care and intrapartum care rendered by midwives. S Afr Med J 1999; 89: 336-342.

7. Theron, GB. Improved practical skills of midwives practicing in the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa through the study of a self-educational manual. J Perinatol 2000; 3: 184-188.

8. Theron GB. The effect of the maternal care manual of the Perinatal Education Programme on the attitude of midwives towards their work. Curationis 2000; 22: 63-68.

SELECTED REFERENCES IN PROCEEDINGS OF THE PRIORITIES IN PERINATAL CARE CONFERENCES

1. Woods DL. Perinatal Education Programme in Proceedings of the 9th Conference on Priorities in Perinatal Care in South Africa 1990. pp 142-144.

2. Woods DL, Theron GB, de Groot H, Greenfield D, Thom C, Louw H, Khan M. Progress with the Perinatal Education Programme in Proceedings of the 12th Conference on Priorities in Perinatal Care in South Africa 1993. pp 122-123.

3. Greenfield DH. Evaluation of the use of the neonatal manual of the Perinatal Education Programme in Proceedings of the 18th Conference on Priorities in Perinatal Care in South Africa. 1999 pp 132-133.

4. Woods DL. An HIV/AIDS supplement to PEP in Proceedings of the 18 th Conference on Priorities in Perinatal Care in South Africa 1999. pp 12-14.