Abortion training in three family medicine programs: resident and patient outcomes
Maureen Paul1, Kristin Nobel, Suzan Goodman
1University of California, San Francisco, USA. maureen.paul@ppnyc.org
Background:
Three family medicine residency programs in California integrated abortion training into routine gynecology rotations in academic years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005.
Methods:
Forty-six (88%) of 52 eligible residents participated in the abortion training sessions. Of these 46 residents, 39 (85%) chose to perform abortion procedures, and seven residents elected to provide other aspects of patient care only.
Results:
Resident evaluations of the training program were overwhelmingly positive. Moreover, two thirds of the 43 post-training survey respondents reported that the training program increased their interest in providing abortion services, and no resident reported decreased interest. The resident complication rate was 1.0%. In post-procedure surveys completed by 155 patients at two training sites, patients reported a high level of satisfaction with the care they received from the training team.
Conclusions:
These program evaluation results suggest that abortion training can safely be integrated into family medicine residency programs, with a positive reception by both residents and patients.
