This course is intended to teach patient-centered pregnancy decision counseling in patient scenarios that often prove challenging. Healthcare providers, including physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, counselors, or clinic staff, often lack the training, language, or techniques to guide patients to self-directed decisions. This is especially evident in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) where stigma makes open discussion uncomfortable for patients and providers alike.
The WHO Clinical Practice Handbook for Safe Abortion Care requires counseling “using simple language, maintaining privacy, supporting women to ask questions and taking time to give answers, and not imposing our personal values and beliefs.” Patient-centeredness is one of the National Academy of Medicine’s six dimensions of health care quality. 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.