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Contraceptive Update: CDC Medical Eligibility Criteria for Women With Chronic Conditions
 
Contraceptive Update: CDC Medical Eligibility Criteria for Women With Chronic Conditions

ARHP, the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health (NPWH), and Medscape are sponsoring Contraceptive Update: CDC Medical Eligibility Criteria for Women With Chronic Conditions, an education program for health care providers.  This educational program is designed to provide clinicians with evidence-based and current information on the efficacy, safety, and appropriateness of specific, contraceptive methods to patients with the medical conditions and particular characteristics delineated in the 2010 CDC MEC guidelines.  The expected outcome of the proposed program is improved provider competence and performance in practice to appropriately provide contraceptive counseling to healthy women and to women with particular characteristics or medical condition

For more information about the program, please contact Delysha D’Mellow Henry at dhenry@arhp.org or (202) 466-3825.

Background

In May 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the U.S. Medical Eligibility Criteria (MEC) for Contraceptive Use, 2010, adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO) Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use, 4th Edition. These guidelines offer recommendations for the use of specific contraceptive methods by women and men in the United States who have particular characteristics or medical conditions. With ongoing and targeted training on reproductive healthcare, clinicians can help patients make informed, evidence-based decisions regarding their contraceptive choices to reduce the high rate of unintended pregnancy in the United States. It can be particularly challenging to provide objective contraceptive information to women who have medical conditions, as there have been no US-based guidelines until now.

Program Design and Educational Activities

  • Interactive Spotlight, a MedscapeCME’s CME/CE activity which features expert faculty discussing late-breaking and important clinical issues in a 30-minute panel discussion structured like a television broadcast

Curriculum Learning Objectives

At the completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

  • List the 4 levels in the ranking system described in the US Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use, 2010
  • Assess the application of the ranking system to prescriptive practices for women with comorbid conditions
  • Describe the risks and benefits of the different contraceptive methods against the risks of pregnancy in women with health-related concerns

Intended Audience and Accreditation

This educational effort is designed to reach healthcare professionals who provide contraceptives or contraceptive counseling to women and men, including obstetrician/gynecologists, family medicine/primary care providers, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and other members of the healthcare team in obstetrics and gynecology, family and internal medicine, and related settings.

The ARHP designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™.

This activity has been evaluated and approved by the Continuing Education Approval Program of the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health for 1.0 contact hour of continuing education credit including 0.25 hour of pharmacology content.

All other healthcare professionals completing continuing education credit for this activity will be issued a certificate of participation.

Funding

This project is funded through an educational grant from Teva Women’s Health Research, A Division of Teva Branded Pharmaceutical Products R&D Inc.