AUSIT NAT Presents: Interpreting in Maternity Care: Supporting Safer Births for All (Webinar)

  

Interpreters play a critical role in delivering high-quality, culturally safe maternity care. Without timely and appropriate interpreter services, women and families from refugee and migrant backgrounds may be excluded from actively participating in their own maternity care. This exclusion can result not only in poor experiences, but also in preventable and devastating outcomes, particularly in the context of stillbirth prevention.

The Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence (Stillbirth CRE) has made addressing stillbirth inequities a central focus of its work, initiating several projects with refugee, migrant, and other priority populations. A key initiative is the Safer Baby Bundle, which aims to reduce preventable stillbirths after 28 weeks of pregnancy.

To ensure the Bundle meets the needs of all families, the Stillbirth CRE partnered with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health (MCWH) to culturally adapt the resources between 2021 and 2023. This work was further supported by the Intergenerational Health Group and Stronger Futures CRE at MCRI, who collaborated with interpreters and healthcare professionals to produce educational resources for healthcare professionals.

The new eLearning package, developed to support interpreters in diverse pregnancy care settings across Australia, was soft launched in December 2024 via social media, in collaboration with the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) and the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT).

The training package includes modules on:

• The design and delivery of maternity care in Australia
• Common tests and investigations during pregnancy
• Approaches to stillbirth prevention
• Interpreter wellbeing and self-care

This webinar is an opportunity to recognise the essential role of interpreters in maternity care and to equip them with tools that promote equity, safety, and respect for all families. The event will bring together interpreters and clinicians to:

• Celebrate the launch of the eLearning package
• Share the history of its development and cultural adaptation
• Explore case study–based applied learning for interpreters navigating complex maternity care scenarios

Presenter Bios

Associate Professor Miranda Davies-Tuck is the Head of Epidemiology & Clinical Trials at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research. She leads a research program that integrates population-based and clinical epidemiology with discovery science to improve maternity care and perinatal outcomes. As Chief Investigator and Equity Program co-lead within the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth, Miranda focuses on reducing disparities in stillbirth and preterm birth among migrant and refugee women in Victoria.

Dr Nisha Khot is the President Elect of RANZCOG and clinical director of obstetrics & gynaecology at Peninsula Health, Frankston. She also has clinical appointments at Joan Kirner Women’s & Children’s hospital as well as Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne. She trained in India and the UK before moving to Australia, so has a unique understanding of different healthcare systems as well as lived experience of being an IMG twice.

Natasha Cocker is currently working as the Clinical Education Manager and National IMPROVE Coordinator at the Stillbirth CRE.  She completed a Bachelor of Midwifery & Bachelor of Nursing with Queensland University of Technology in 2012. Prior to joining the Stillbirth CRE, Natasha worked across the maternity space both in Queensland and internationally- with a key focus on coordination of midwifery care, patient safety & quality improvement.

Georgia Griffin is a nurse midwife researcher. Her clinical experience motivates her to work in partnership with women, seeking out opportunities to contribute to research exploring and addressing health inequities shaped by culture, gender, language, health literacy and migration. She works on midwife and nurse-led research teams at Curtin University and the Women and Newborn Health Service in Western Australia. In this capacity, she has led a novel evaluation of cross-cultural communication within the health service.

Sharon Luna Settecasse is a mother, maternity advocate of nearly 10 years and community organiser whose work is rooted in connection, healing self, community and culture. Sharon is the president and co-founder of Better Births Illawarra, a fierce grassroots community maternity advocacy organisation committed to ensuring every mother and birthing parent has access to an empowered birth through respectful, culturally grounded maternity care.

Joining the Webinar

The Zoom links for the webinar will be sent out 1 day prior to the event. Please ensure you have downloaded the latest version of Zoom in preparation.

PD Logbook

Introductory PD.

Please  consult the NAATI Recertification Catalogue to allocate the relevant PD Points. Some activities can be included under different categories, so please choose the most appropriate category for your recertification purposes.

Certificates and Recordings
Webinar recordings and Certificates for PD purposes may take approximately two (2) weeks to be released following the event.

This is a live webinar event and will be recorded. The recording
will be shared with registrants.

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