ARHP’s educational program, New Developments in Contraception, gives health care professionals the tools and strategies to thoroughly and effectively discuss contraceptive options with their patients. The goal of this program is to expand providers’ knowledge of currently available and soon-to-be available contraceptive options.

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

Background

Nearly half of US pregnancies each year are unintended, primarily because individuals fail to correctly and consistently use effective contraceptive methods.¹ Health care providers are reluctant to discuss the full range of birth control options of currently available and soon-to-be available contraceptive options with their patients due to time restraints, gaps in education, or clinical misperceptions. On the other hand, patients are hesitant to explore all appropriate hormonal and non-hormonal methods due to lack of knowledge and fears about risk perpetuated by culture and the media.² Significant gaps in provider training on current and in-development contraceptive methods combine with cognitive biases and incorrect assumptions to negatively impact patient care.³ As health care options expand with recent decisions by the Institute of Medicine about recommended women’s preventative services, the reproductive landscape is becoming even more complex while new and established technologies remain under media, regulatory, and political scrutiny.

ARHP has worked for decades to ensure that health care providers and consumers have accurate information about and access to all safe, effective contraceptive options – both those on the market and in development - in an effort to reduce continued high rates of unintended pregnancy, and the barriers that surround these methods. ARHP will implement a multifaceted educational program to help providers keep up-to-date on new contraceptive technologies, to facilitate a greater understanding of the scientific literature, and to improve provider-patient communication on these issues.

Program Components

An accredited PowerPoint slide set with talking points
3 live sessions: 1 live session will take place at Reproductive Health 2012
2 live webinars (to be made available on-demand)
Integration of content into the Curricula Organizer for Reproductive Health Education (CORE), ARHP’s on-line, open-access collection of peer-reviewed, evidence-based teaching materials
4 Clinical Minute activities

Curriculum Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of the medical education sessions, participants will be able to:

Explain why the development of new contraceptive methods is necessary for improving reproductive health and preventing unintended pregnancy
Describe how contraceptive technologies and therapies in development differ from currently available options and how new methods will contribute to existing method mix

Intended Audience

This program includes educational offerings for reproductive health and primary care providers and educators, including: physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurse midwives, pharmacists, and family and internal medicine providers who care for women. Special emphasis will be placed on identifying, cultivating, and educating the next generation of providers – residents and students in nurse practitioner, nurse-midwife, and physician assistant training programs, and others in related fields.

Accreditation

The live sessions and webinars associated with this program will be accredited for continuing medical education, nursing, and pharmacist contact hours.

Funding

This project is funded through educational grants from Agile Therapeutics, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals.
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Finer LB, Henshaw SK. Disparities in rates of unintended pregnancy in the United States, 1994 and 2001. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2006 Jun;38(2):90-6.
Schwartz LM, Woloshin S, Black WC, and Welch HG. The role of numeracy in understanding the benefit of screening mammography. Ann Intern Med. 1997;127:(11):966–72.
Woloshin S, Schwartz LM, Moncur M, Gabriel S, and Tosteson AN. Assessing values for health: numeracy matters. Med Decis Making. 2001;(5):382–90.