Photo: Members of the midwife team from OLOL who attended Congress: Michelle Scanlon, Adrienne Brady, Lisa Dunne, Niamh Collins, Fiona Moloney, Grainne Milne, Lane Galvin, Christine Mc Geough.
Midwives from the Maternity Unit at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, have showcased their expertise on the international stage after representing the region at the 34th International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) Triennial Congress in Lisbon. The event brought together more than 3,000 midwives, educators and healthcare leaders from around the world to share best practice and discuss the future of maternity care.
At the congress, the Drogheda team delivered two of the main workshops, Calm in the Chaos and Empowering Birth, showcasing best practice in multidisciplinary teamwork, simulation-based training and person-centred maternity care. They also presented three posters highlighting innovative work in breech detection, the use of mobile technology in midwifery, and collaborative approaches to care that support better outcomes for mothers and babies.
In addition to sharing their own expertise, the team brought home international learning on culturally sensitive care, including awareness of ethnicity and diversity, enhanced support for neurodiverse women, new thinking on gestational diabetes screening, and updated ideas for skills-and-drills training and implementing meaningful change in healthcare settings. These insights will inform ongoing quality improvement and service development in the Maternity Unit at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda .
“We are immensely proud of the midwifery team at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, whose expertise and extensive experience have been recognised on an international stage at the ICM Congress in Lisbon. Their work in areas like simulation training, breech detection and person-centred care is already making a real difference to women and babies in Louth and Meath, and the new learning they are bringing home will further strengthen maternity services across our region. This achievement reflects the skill, dedication and professionalism of our staff, and the ambition we have locally to deliver the highest standard of care for our communities” said Paddy Clerkin, HSE IHA Manager, Louth Meath.
