Stephen's Story

For over a year, Stephen Opiyo’s work has centered around bringing new life into the world. As a nurse in Akala Health Centre, bordering Lake Victoria in the West of Kenya, he manages the safe delivery of babies across the county, as well as the health and wellbeing of expectant and new mothers. In the height of COVID-19 last year, Stephen enrolled in DELTA, Jacaranda Health’s online mentorship program. The virtual learning assistant equips nurses in Kenya with the needed skills in emergency care to avert life-threatening pregnancy and postpartum complications. The curriculum was adapted from Jacaranda’s EmONC Mentorship program, which is currently helping improve clinical performance in facilities across ten of Kenya’s counties. 

Jacaranda saw that while offering mentorship inside facilities helps providers build skills as they deliver services, to do so during COVID-19 compromised their safety, and that of their patients. DELTA offered a continuum of the training without risk of transmission, at a time when frontline health providers like Stephen were actively fighting its devastating effects. ‘We knew as health professionals we were responsible for upholding COVID-19 containment measures.’ says Stephen. ‘Online mentorship helped increase my knowledge without having to engage in physical contact and, in doing so, keep cases stable’. 

Through a series of self-paced learning modules, nurses across the country can access EmONC learning content at their fingertips, and have their progress virtually validated and marked by program mentors. Stephen has now completed all modules, and names his favorite among them as that in neonatal resuscitation. ‘The module taught me important aspects about resuscitation that I hadn't known before.’ Stephen explains. ‘I didn’t know that when delivering an asphyxiated baby, you should perform rescue breaths until the baby is at 40-60 breaths per minute, and then start with chest compressions. I thought the two happened simultaneously’. 

Jacaranda is committed not only to improving nurse clinical capacity, but also their emotional intelligence - a key driver in positive patient experience. Direct feedback Jacaranda collects monthly from mothers has exposed instances of provider abuse and negligence in certain facilities, and reports of mothers being turned away without due reason. The EmONC curriculum therefore includes modules on respectful maternity care - building nurse capacity to provide excellent clinical care alongside emotional support. ‘I learnt that when a mother presents herself in a maternal ward you need to treat her with dignity.’ says Stephen. ‘If her baby dies, your job is to help the mother grieve, to grieve with her’. 

Mentors are also taught the art of effective communication, a skill that enhances clinical performance by helping providers connect better with their patients. ‘The program provided us with a tool for effective communication so that in the instance of an obstetric emergency, you’re able to explain the situation and reassure the mother in a way that is not too wordy’. Explains Stephen. 

Stephen is now empowered to help providers in his facility adopt the same knowledge and, critically, convert them into practice. ‘I provided my mentees really detailed feedback leveraging the aspects I’d been trained on.’ explains Stephen. ‘They took Jacaranda-run tests around enhancing safety care in obstetrics, and I could guide them where they went wrong, and motivate them to do better.’ Stephen relates that his mentees never tire of asking questions - a critical part of self-assessment and improvement. ‘I thank God I was blessed with the knowledge and skills from Jacaranda to answer them’.  

Jacaranda has mentored thousands of frontline health providers to date, but the program’s impact spreads far beyond this. As proven by Stephen, mentors and mentees are empowered to share their skills and know-how with colleagues in their respective facilities, and thousands of patients now receive better care at the hands of capable, confident nurses and midwives. While Jacaranda has restarted in-facility mentorship, DELTA continues to thrive. Blending onsite and online training not only enhances learning opportunities, but is also cost-effective; without need for transport or logistics, Jacaranda are reallocating costs to offer ‘refresher training’, reinforcing nurse expertise at a time when their skills are needed most.