No abstract

The use of obstetric simulators is common practice in contemporary health care education. However, they are not a recent innovation. In the late 1700s a French midwife, Madame du Coudray, invented an obstetric simulator which she used to teach midwifery to more than 4,000 peasant women. Appointed in August 1767 by King Louis XV to teach midwifery “throughout the whole extent of the Realm,” she faced the challenge of teaching a complex scientific process to science‐illiterate students. This inspired her invention which received the endorsement of the French Surgical Academy. Using the simulator and her midwifery manual, describing the manipulations necessary to deliver an infant, she taught midwifery throughout France for 20 years. Each community where she taught was required to purchase a simulator for the local surgeons to use after she left, to train more midwives. Although she produced hundreds of them, only one exists today and is housed in Rouen, France. Made of cloth, leather, and bone, it resembles a pregnant woman from waist to knees. It includes a small baby (doll) which can be manipulated through the birth canal. How realistic is her simulator? Is it possible that she used active brain‐based learning in the 18th century? This study evaluates the simulator for fidelity (how realistic it is) and its potential for active learning. Photographs of the simulator were compared with thirty‐five quotes from the manual describing manipulations performed during delivery. Raters, with medical training, were asked to rate how feasible, on a scale from 0 to 4, it would be to conduct the manipulations on the simulator. The average rating ranged from 2.5 to 4. The interrater reliability was 94%. This study showed that the simulator has good fidelity, and could be used for active learning. No funding was received for this study.