Last day of my TALK debrief adventure for this trip. I was on a late shift today so went for a run in the morning. I was chuffed to bits as I actually managed to run a solid 5 km. I had only just about been able to walk that when I arrived, but after walking everyday and building up the pace and distance, I managed to run it without stopping!   
After collecting my dinner from the hospital canteen, I arrived for shift at 2.30pm where handover was taking place. I started the shift working with a lovely midwife called Bente. She was caring for an english speaking couple from eastern Europe so I was able to get involved in the converstations and was even useful for translating at times. Once again, the woman had an epidural infusion and was able to mobilse considerably well whilst having adequate analgesia. The woman had a beautiful normal delivery with no complications. Two midwives should be present at delivery as per protocolin Stavanger, as well as a baby nurse that cares for the baby soon after delivery. Oil was massaged into the perineum whilst the head was crowning - the midwife wasn't sure what evidence there was surrounding this but said in her experience this helped to avoid large perineal tears. The woman and her partner were left to have some time alone with their newborn baby whilst the midwife updated the labour partogram and documentation on the computer.
After lunch, I observed an emergency caesarean section in their main theatres. Anaesthetists do not stay on the high risk maternity ward in this unit, they only come when called by the midwife. They also do not have ODP's for assistance with epidurals but they have an anaesthetic nurse present in theatre to assist which I am assuming is their equivalent. The procedure for C/section was very similar to what we have in Cardiff. The only difference was the anaesthetist left before the C/section was completed which is not the case in Cardiff where they do not leave the women until handover is received by midwife in recovery. The midwives in Stavanger do not recover the women, specialised recovery staff do this and the women go to the postnatal ward straight from there. 
The baby required significant resuscitation after birth. A TALK debrief session was then held by the obstetricians and midwife post delivery. This was the first time I had seen this on the maternity ward. It was performed in english for my benefit and I found it extremely useful. It only took 10 minutes to perform but they concluded with some useful points and key actions to take forward. The relevant professionals were clearly allocated these actions to complete. 
I finished my shift at 10pm and said my thankyous and goodbyes to the team. Everyone had been so helpful, friendly and accomodating to me which really made my experience a pleasant and useful one. I would be back in April to consolidate and hopefully fill them in on how we are implementing TALK debriefs in our maternity unit in Cardiff.