Initiative Continues Partnership with Bangalore Baptist Hospital
The "Saving Babies’ Lives" program, a groundbreaking initiative by Belmont University in collaboration with Bangalore Baptist Hospital, continues to gain momentum as it enters its implementation phase. The project, funded by the Laerdal Foundation, aims to enhance maternal and infant healthcare in India by providing culturally responsive curricula based on best practices in labor and delivery.
Dr. Shelby Garner, director of Global Health Innovation and professor of nursing at Belmont, is heading up the project along with an international team of experts who have worked for the past six months to develop the curriculum. The course, set to launch this month, will benefit 300 nursing students across India through an accessible open-source Google Classroom.
Garner and fellow collaborators visited Bangalore Baptist’s Nursing Institute in July. The trip included a celebration of the partnership and presenting the hospital with new grant-funded equipment to enhance the simulation labs. The team also used that time to review the course curriculum word-by-word to ensure it was culturally appropriate for the needs of the faculty and students at Bangalore Baptist.
A Belmont delegation will return in January to develop the simulations that will be used when each school brings its students to the simulation lab.
“We will design the simulations so they will really put to task all the competencies that they've learned in the course,” Garner explained. “They'll get hands-on experience and be able to manually do all of the interventions that they learned about in the months prior.” Pre-test and post-test assessments will be conducted to measure students' learning outcomes.
One innovative aspect of the program is the development of a tool to assess cultural responsiveness within the simulation. This tool, created from a learner's perspective, aims to evaluate whether simulations are culturally understood, free from biases and stereotypes, and foster inclusion and fairness. Dr. Garner emphasized the importance of addressing diversity, equity and inclusion issues in healthcare education, and this is a significant step towards achieving that goal.
“We are excited about this tool that will be available for use at any school globally. We think it will gain a lot of momentum and put Belmont’s nursing research on the map,” Garner said. “We are sending it out to experts around the world to ensure validity and will then further validate the tool through use in the labs.”
Others on the team include Belmont Global Health Coordinator Taryn McCoy, faculty members at Bangalore Baptist and a couple other collaborators from all over the world. Dr. Garner also highlighted the invaluable contribution of Ellen Witter, a Belmont Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) nursing student, who has played a significant role in the project's success.
“One of the nursing school's goals is to match a number of students with projects in international locations where Belmont has connections,” Garner explained. “This global approach enables students interested in global health, scholarship, research and missions to make meaningful connections and contribute to healthcare improvements around the world.”
Belmont University's collaboration with Bangalore Baptist Hospital continues to underscore the importance of international partnerships in advancing healthcare education and saving lives, particularly in regions with critical healthcare challenges. As the "Saving Babies’ Lives" program progresses, it stands as a testament to the potential of global collaboration in addressing pressing healthcare issues and promoting cultural sensitivity in medical education.
CEO of Bangalore Baptist Hospital Dr. Spurgeon Rachaprolu will visit Belmont the week of September 11, including speaking on the hospital’s Christ-centeredness at Belmont’s Chapel service Sept. 13.