A family planning risk scoring system for health care providers

The potential usefulness of a Family Planning Risk Scoring Sheet was studied in 1720 consecutive women who completed a family planning visit and were prescribed a specific contraceptive method. The results demonstrated that many women had relative or absolute contraindications to their prescribed method that were detected later by the Family Planning Risk Scoring Sheet. There were 29 women in the oral contraceptive and intrauterine device groups who had absolute contraindications detected (2.8 and 2.4%, respectively). The nurse practitioners tended to have fewer unrecognized problems in their groups than did the physicians. The usefulness of the Family Planning Risk Scoring Sheet was demonstrated and its routine use in a busy family planning unit is recommended.