Context
Perinatal loss is one of the most emotionally complex situations encountered in obstetric care. Nurses supporting families during fetal loss must integrate clinical competence with compassionate communication and trauma-informed care. Memory-making practices such as photographs, handprints, footprints, and keepsakes provide families with meaningful connections to their baby and can support the grieving process.
As part of my clinical teaching practice, I developed and delivered an educational session titled Supporting Grief Through Mementos in Fetal Loss. The purpose of this session was to help nurses understand the importance of memory-making practices and to develop confidence in supporting families through these experiences.
The session was developed to support staff education within the Labour and Delivery setting and reflects my ongoing commitment to improving bereavement care through education.
Original Teaching Session
This artifact includes the original PowerPoint presentation used to teach nurses how to support families through memory-making practices during fetal loss.
Supporting Grief Through Mementos in Fetal Loss Original
Curriculum Design Reflection and Revisions
After completing the Curriculum & Design module, I reviewed this teaching session using principles of alignment, sequencing, and adult learning. Although the original session contained valuable content, I recognized several opportunities to strengthen the educational design.
Alignment
The revised session begins with clearly defined learning objectives that guide the presentation’s structure and the development of learning activities.
Learning objectives include:
• Explaining the role of memory-making in supporting grieving families
• Identifying types of mementos used in perinatal bereavement care
• Demonstrating strategies for introducing memory-making options sensitively
• Reflecting on the nurse’s role in providing trauma-informed bereavement care
These objectives help ensure that teaching activities and discussions are aligned with the intended learning outcomes.
Sequencing
The revised presentation introduces content in a structured sequence that supports learning progression:
- The significance of memory-making for families
- Types of mementos and memory-making practices
- Communication strategies when offering mementos
- Reflection and discussion
This progression allows learners to first understand the rationale for memory-making practices before developing confidence in implementing them within clinical care.
Supporting Grief Through Mementos in Fetal Loss Revision
Curriculum Alignment
This presentation was revised using principles of curriculum alignment explored in this module. Clear learning objectives guide the session’s structure, and teaching strategies, such as discussion, case reflection, and visual examples, are intentionally aligned with them. The sequence of slides moves from defining memory-making mementos to exploring their emotional significance, identifying challenges in practice, and examining the nurse’s role in supporting families. The reflective discussion question encourages participants to connect the content to their own clinical experiences. This approach ensures that learning objectives, teaching activities, and reflection are intentionally aligned to support learner understanding and compassionate bereavement care
Evaluation and Feedback
To strengthen the evaluation of the session, I developed a Clinical Teaching Evaluation Tool to gather feedback from participants on the session’s effectiveness and relevance to clinical practice.
Feedback collected through this tool can inform ongoing refinement of the session and guide future improvements to teaching practice.
Evaluation Form Fetal Loss Mementos
Lee Dollery - Nurse Educator Portfolio 