Benefits of Hormonal Contraception Across the Lifespan: A Case-Based, Interactive Curriculum

Exogenous hormones found in birth control methods have contraceptive and noncontraceptive benefits, yet few educational resources exist for medical students to learn about use of hormonal contraceptives in varied patient scenarios.

We designed a curriculum for second-year medical students on the use of hormonal contraceptives in patients with diverse identities and clinical conditions. Students enrolled in a transition to clerkship course participated in an interactive 40-minute large-group didactic, followed by case-based collaborative learning small-group discussions. Cases included a reproductive-aged female patient with a new chronic medical condition, a patient identifying as queer with menstrual irregularities, and a perimenopausal patient with systemic symptoms. Students provided immediate postcourse quantitative feedback, followed by longitudinal qualitative feedback during six consecutive OB/GYN clerkship cycles, regarding the value of the curriculum as preparation for hormone counseling patient encounters. We performed thematic analysis of all qualitative responses.

Of 137 students enrolled, 50 (36%) completed end-of-course evaluation, with 70% evaluating the intervention as excellent or good. For thematic analysis, of the 103 eligible clerkship students, 59 (57%) completed the survey. We identified four themes: value of the curriculum as an introduction to hormone counseling; value in recognizing one's own biases in hormone counseling; emphasis on patient-centered counseling; and introduction to value-neutral and nondirective counseling.

Our case-based curriculum introduces hormonal contraception across diverse patient identities and medical indications, resulting in improved student comfort with patient-centered counseling on hormone options. This expansive contraception curriculum can be replicated for other medical trainees across multiple subspecialties.