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Midwifery volunteering in Vietnam

Sam Bassett

Head of Department, Midwifery

12 December 2024

Sam Bassett is Head of Midwifery in the Faculty and a volunteer for a charity in Vietnam that aims to reduce neonatal mortality. She tells us more about what a typical volunteering trip to Vietnam looks like, and how she fits it in with her work at King’s.

Sam Bassett volunteering in Vietnam
Sam Bassett volunteering in Vietnam

2024 was my third time working for the charity Newborns Vietnam, the previous being 2019, then post-COVID lockdown in 2022.

The charity is UK registered and licensed to operate as an NGO in Vietnam. Their aim to reduce neonatal mortality in South East Asia with a particular focus in Vietnam.

The area I have been helping them with is providing Newborn Life support (NLS) training to doctors, nurses and midwives with the end goal being that Vietnam establishes and run their own national European Resuscitation Council (ERC) approved courses across the country.

Previous visits have focused just on Hanoi, but this year over a two-week period we started in Ho Chi Minh, then travelled to Hue before finishing at Hanoi. Activities included Faculty meetings and teaching courses in all three locations.

I was initially approached as I have been a Resuscitation Council-UK Newborn Life Support (NLS) instructor since 2009. This opportunity fulfilled two key areas of interest for me: firstly teaching NLS, which I always enjoy; and secondly, I am particularly interested in international ‘train the trainer’ courses where the aim is to get countries self-sufficient instead of relying on outside experts. Of course, if I’m being truthful the opportunity to visit Vietnam was obviously a big draw as well!

During the visits, I work with a variety of volunteers including neonatologists, advanced neonatal nurse practitioners and midwives from across the UK. It’s always good to mix and learn from each other. From undertaking these courses, I am also registered as a current ERC NLS instructor.

In terms of how this volunteering fits into my work at King’s, I’m the NLS lead for the Faculty. Within this, as well as overseeing the external contract for mandatory NLS training, I also still teach this to our students within the second-year midwifery emergency sessions, and provide mandatory catchup sessions if required.

The biggest rewards for me are watching healthcare practitioners grow in knowledge and confidence. An example of this can be found in some amazing feedback following our last visit in June 2024; for the first time, a midwife from the obstetrics department at Thong Nhat District General Hospital (Dong Nai) was able to resuscitate an extremely premature baby thanks to the resuscitation class that we delivered. She performed the steps of clearing the airway, squeezing the bag to help breathing, performing chest compressions and was assisted by the doctor in intubation. The baby went from having a sporadic heartbeat to a stable one. This is so rewarding to hear as previously, a resuscitation case such as this would have often been unsuccessful.

I hope to continue with these volunteering trips over the next few years. It’s so exciting to see the practitioners becoming more and more skilled, and getting feedback like the above demonstrates why it’s so necessary.

In this story

Sam  Bassett

Sam Bassett

Head of Department, Midwifery and Senior Lecturer in Midwifery Education

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