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Abortion 101
Abortion is a common experience for people around the world; yet it is often excluded from the curricula of health professionals. Our aim is to fill in the gaps left by the exclusion of abortion from mainstream curricula.
Learning Objectives
Understand the difference between medication abortion and emergency contraception
Recognize that medication abortion and uterine aspiration are safe and highly acceptable to patients
Describe how medication abortion works
Understand why people seek abortion care later in pregnancy
Describe general factors associated with abortion pain and options for pain control
Understand the basics of how uterine aspiration, induction termination, and D&E are performed
Lecture can be viewed with subtitles in Spanish or French. French translation was made possible by the Safe Abortion Action Fund and International Planned Parenthood Federation. Click the Closed Captions button on video lectures to access subtitles.
Lecture can be viewed with subtitles in Spanish or French. French translation was made possible by the Safe Abortion Action Fund and International Planned Parenthood Federation. Click the Closed Captions button on video lectures to access subtitles.
Clinicians can support patient autonomy and reproductive justice by using shared decision making to assist patients choose a contraceptive method that is the best fit for their preferences, lifestyle and reproductive goals and having the skills and knowledge to provide patients with the full range of contraceptive options.
Learning Objectives
Understand how to counsel patients for contraception using shared decision making
Discuss the benefits, efficacy, and side effects of each contraceptive method
Describe which methods can be used for emergency contraception
Choose a method of emergency contraception that best meets the needs of each patient
Determine which forms of EC are most effective depending on patient preferences and BMI
Research shows that clinical learners exhibit a decline in empathy after they begin interacting with patients which poses a threat to their ability to provide patient-centered care. Patient-centered care challenges doctors to be empathetic, respectful, and compassionate, even during difficult patient interactions or when they have moral objections to the patient’s health behaviors.
Learning Objectives
Understand the professional responsibilities of health-care providers caring for people seeking abortion
Recognize and appreciate appropriate and inappropriate applications of “conscience” in the setting of abortion care
Practice patient communication skills
Identify steps to take to enhance professionalism in personally challenging clinical encounter
Lecture can be viewed with subtitles in Spanish or French. French translation was made possible by the Safe Abortion Action Fund and International Planned Parenthood Federation. Click the Closed Captions button on video lectures to access subtitles.
Lecture can be viewed with subtitles in Spanish or French. French translation was made possible by the Safe Abortion Action Fund and International Planned Parenthood Federation. Click the Closed Captions button on video lectures to access subtitles.
Lecture can be viewed with subtitles in Spanish or French. French translation was made possible by the Safe Abortion Action Fund and International Planned Parenthood Federation. Click the Closed Captions button on video lectures to access subtitles.
This web-based Medical Student Professional Responsibility Module is intended to help learners develop skills to manage their own judgmental feelings in patient interactions by encouraging empathy, compassion, or acceptance. This exercise was developed as a values clarification exercise for use with medical students. The Digital Interactive Family Planning Module is designed for individual use on smartphones, tablets, and computers. This module can complement a group setting or be used as a stand-alone tool.
This resource explains different birth control methods for people across the gender spectrum, with a focus on the effects of different forms of birth control on those taking gender-affirming hormones such as testosterone.
Structures & Self: Advancing Equity and Justice in Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare
As we face these times of fear and uncertainty it is especially important that we combat misinformation and challenge racist, nationalistic rhetoric and narratives within our communities, our healthcare systems, and ourselves. Understanding our own implicit biases and having a clear understanding of how social, political, and economic structures impact health are important in addressing inequity and ensuring that the healthcare setting is equipped to provide safe and compassionate care. Find the visual glossary for this course here!
Learning Objectives
Learners will become familiar with historical context and implications for disparities in sexual and reproductive health. This video will review how the history of oppression, contributes to current health inequities.
Learners will explore how the structures of power and oppression manifest within healthcare systems and impact sexual and reproductive health outcomes.
Learners will identify implicit bias, privilege, and fragility regarding patient interactions, their relationship to structures of oppression, and practices for self-reflection and self-care.
After learners have recognized their privilege, they will identify ways to center a justice framework and structural analysis as a tool to promote optimal health outcomes.
Structures & Self is a learner-led, justice-informed curriculum designed to teach learners to consider how systems of power and legacies of oppression impact their care for patients.
James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality.
Physicians spend less time with clinically obese patients and fail to refer them for diagnostic tests compared to thinner patients.
Phelan SM, Burgess DJ, Yeazel MW, Hellerstedt WL, Griffin JM, van Ryn M. Impact of weight bias and stigma on quality of care and outcomes for patients with obesity. Obes Rev. 2015 Apr;16(4):319-26. doi: 10.1111/obr.12266. Epub 2015 Mar 5. PubMed PMID: 25752756; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4381543.
FitzGerald C, Hurst S. Implicit bias in healthcare professionals: a systematic review. BMC Med Ethics. 2017 Mar 1;18(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s12910-017-0179-8. PubMed PMID: 28249596; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5333436.
Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations
Smedley BD, Stith AY, Nelson AR. Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. National Academies Press; Washington, DC: 2013.
Cleeland CS, Gonin R, Baez L, Loehrer P, Pandya KJ. Pain and treatment of pain in minority patients with cancer. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Minority Outpatient Pain Study. Ann Intern Med. 1997;127(9):813–816.
Goyal MK, Kuppermann N, Cleary SD, Teach SJ, Chamberlain JM. Racial disparities in pain management of children with appendicitis in emergency departments. JAMA Pediatr. 2015;169(11):996–1002.
Hoffman KM, Trawalter S, Axt JR, Oliver MN. Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Apr 19;113(16):4296-301. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1516047113. Epub 2016 Apr 4. PubMed PMID: 27044069; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4843483.
Bronfenbrenner, Urie (1989). “Ecological systems theory”. In Vasta, Ross (ed.). Annals of Child Development: Vol. 6. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. pp. 187–249.
Co-hosted by SisterSong and RHEDI, this webinar will provide: an introduction to the Reproductive Justice framework and its core principles; a brief history of reproductive oppression; and a deeper understanding of intersectionality.
Click here for more community education resources from RHEDI!
The Framework: Counseling for Patient-Centered Abortion Care
Abortion is essential healthcare. As we navigate a new reality with COVID-19, we must continue to prioritize patient autonomy and recognize patients as experts in their own lives. This intentional approach requires the provision of care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values and empowers people to take charge of their own health.
Learning Objectives
Recognize areas in your practice where you may experience a judgmental reaction to patient statements, questions and decisions.
Apply conversational techniques for maintaining a positive relationship with patients who make decisions about health care with which you may disagree.
Compare and contrast different words and phrases that are used in options counseling.
Analyze alternative responses to patient statements.
Practice techniques for talking with patients about their pregnancy decisions
Lecture can be viewed with subtitles in Spanish or French. French translation was made possible by the Safe Abortion Action Fund and International Planned Parenthood Federation. Click the Closed Captions button on video lectures to access subtitles.
Liberation summary: Healthcare providers may have bias favoring a particular decision, but the patient owns the decision and ultimately it does not impact the providers life.