Midwife’s assistance via video would be helpful in unexpected childbirth, according to new study

The study examined unplanned out-of-hospital childbirth events without the presence of a healthcare professional, where a layperson, such as a family member or other person who happens to be present, ends up assisting in the delivery. Situations like these are unexpected, progress quickly, and require people to operate under immense pressure.

The first author of the article, Jussi Hänninen, works as a senior lecturer in maternity care at the Kotka campus of the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Xamk). This study is related to his doctoral dissertation in education. The study examined the development of cooperation between emergency dispatchers and laypersons from both perspectives. The research material consisted of stories written by Finnish emergency response centre dispatchers and themed interviews with laypersons who have assisted in unplanned out-of-hospital deliveries.

“In the single emergency response centre authority model used in Finland, an emergency call related to an out-of-hospital childbirth is not specifically transferred to a midwife in the maternity hospital. This means it is up to the emergency dispatcher, who does not usually have specialised expertise in deliveries, to handle the situation,” says Hänninen.

The study found that in such a rapidly progressing situation, a video connection, as opposed to relying solely on verbal communication, would make it easier for the midwife to provide relevant instructions to the layperson. Via video, the emergency dispatcher could more easily form a situational picture, which would be especially helpful in situations where the parties lack a common language or traffic noise hinders the audibility of the call. An unplanned childbirth event has a strong emotional charge for everyone involved, emphasising the significance of emotion work, such as calming down the layperson or the person giving birth. A group call between the layperson, the emergency dispatcher, and the midwife could also be beneficial. Group calls are already utilised in Finnish emergency response centre operations for interpreting services.

Up to approximately one-third of out-of-hospital childbirths in Finland occur without medical assistance, and their number is likely to increase as maternity hospital services are centralised in countries with developed healthcare, such as Finland. Even so, this is a topic that has not been widely researched before.

An unplanned out-of-hospital childbirth can be a traumatic experience that involves high risks for both the person giving birth and the baby. This study enhances the likelihood of achieving a safe and positive overall childbirth experience by developing the expertise of maternity care agents and cooperation within the maternity care service system.

“In the best-case scenario, this contributes to the empowerment of the person giving birth in unexpected, unplanned, and rapidly progressing out-of-hospital childbirth events handled by laypersons under the guidance of emergency dispatchers,” says Hänninen.
“This is a topic that I have been teaching at Xamk for two whole decades, and Xamk’s students will get to utilise these new results in their studies right away.”

The other authors of the article are Hilla Nordquist and Hanna Toiviainen. Nordquist works as a principal lecturer at Xamk’s Department of Health and Emergency Care. She is also an adjunct professor in health policy at the University of Helsinki. Toiviainen is a professor of adult education at Tampere University and also supervises Hänninen’s dissertation.

International peer-reviewed scientific article: Emergency dispatchers as instructors of laypersons in unplanned out-of-hospital deliveries. Published 30 July 2025.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0327808

For more information, please contact:
Jussi Hänninen, Senior Lecturer in Maternity Care, Doctoral Researcher, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, tel. 044 702 8373, jussi.hanninen@xamk.fi