Stream 2 ‐ Health Policy (FC2)

Abstract

Introduction Access to safe termination of pregnancy (TOP) is an essential component of women's health care, but relies on adequate numbers of trained providers. It is therefore important that the extent and quality of abortion teaching in the undergraduate medical curricula in the UK is assessed. The study aimed to reflect upon UK medical students' experiences of and attitudes towards TOP teaching in their medical curricula, in order to identify both successes and shortcomings in the current provision of undergraduate medical education on TOP. Methods Medical students studying at institutions within the UK were invited to complete an online questionnaire, which was available for responses over a 4-month period from May to August 2015. The study used a 36-item questionnaire, with a mixture of binary, sliding-scale, categorical and free-text response items. Participants were recruited via the social media platforms of Medsin-UK, a student-led global health charity. Results The survey received 119 responses from participants studying in 21 universities, representing all stages of the medical course. 53% of those surveyed had not received any pre-clinical teaching, while 78% had not received any formal clinical teaching on TOP. The majority of students would have liked more teaching on TOP as part of their medical curriculum: 73% reported wanting more lecture-based/classroom-based teaching and 59% reported wanting more clinical exposure to TOP. All respondents were asked how sufficient they felt their pre-clinical and clinical teaching on TOP had been on a 1-10 scale; 71% gave a sufficiency score of 3 or less. 81% of respondents said that they would not be comfortable counselling a woman about her options for a pregnancy. 84% put this down to a lack of knowledge, and 52% cited a lack of confidence in appropriate communication skills. Only 7.1% associated it with a personal objection to TOP. When asked on a 1-10 scale how relevant they felt teaching on abortion was to medical students today, 45% answered with '10' -'very relevant'. Conclusion We identified dissatisfaction with TOP education and a lack of confidence in TOP-related clinical skills in our participants. Such results indicate the need for further scrutiny of the content and quality of teaching on TOP in the medical curriculum. An improvement in delivery of undergraduate medical education on TOP is necessary to ensure that junior doctors are confident in their abilities to provide competent and compassionate care to women seeking TOP. FC2.003One Trust's struggle to reduce its stillbirth rate. A financial assessment of implementing 3 weekly growth scanning for women at risk of fetal growth restriction Sagar, R; Arlidge, M; Hayman, R Gloucester Royal Hospital, Gloucestershire, UK Introduction Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is associated with increased perinatal morbidity and mortality. The UK has one of the highest stillbirth rates in Europe. Confidential enquiries have demonstrated that most stillbirths due to FGR are potentially avoidable. Reducing stillbi...