Abortion education for residents

Planned Parenthood of New York City established a physician education program in first-trimester abortion using local anesthesia at its three clinics. This paper describes the program's technical and counseling skills curricula, individualized instruction, quality-assurance procedures, obstacles encountered, and solutions implemented. Major obstacles were slow initial recruitment, disincentives of off-site education, and scheduling difficulties. Solutions included grand rounds presentations at local hospitals to recruit residents, considerable flexibility in rotational scheduling, and expansion of instructional staff to include academic physicians as teachers. Since its inception in July 1993, 53 residents and attending physicians have been taught to perform induced abortions at Planned Parenthood, and 25 who completed the program are currently providing abortions around the nation. Planned Parenthood's experience in teaching residents from local hospitals to perform first-trimester abortion using local anesthesia may be valuable for those who wish to implement similar collaborative off-site educational programs.