The Status of Medical Student Education in Pregnancy Options Counseling: a Review

Abstract

Background The Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO) has acknowledged the importance of pregnancy options counseling by listing it as a “shows how” skill for all undergraduate medical students. Unfortunately, there is no standard curriculum utilized to teach medical students pregnancy options counseling or to assess skill sustainability over time. Objectives To review and summarize the literature on pregnancy options counseling in undergraduate medical education. Methods We performed a structured literature review searching Google Scholar, PubMed, and EMBASE for articles between 2000 and February 2020. Inclusion criteria were English language studies of M. D. and D.O. programs in North America with a discussion of pregnancy options counseling as it relates to medical student education. Results There is a small but growing body of literature on pregnancy options counseling in medical student education. The common themes across the 17 papers reviewed include the status of pregnancy options counseling in undergraduate medical education, barriers to teaching options counseling, the timing of education, utilization of the options counseling Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), learner challenges, and novel strategies for implementing education in options counseling and subsequent learning outcomes. Conclusions There is no standardized pregnancy options counseling curriculum in undergraduate medical education (UME). The landscape in which this important skill is being taught is one of random, insufficient, and uncoordinated curricular interventions. This is the only review on this subject, making it a unique summary on pregnancy options counseling in UME.

The ongoing crisis of abortion care education and training in the United States

“…Options counselling is a noncoercive, nonbiased counselling based on both information about and access to resources for continuing a pregnancy and parenting, abortion and adoption [8]. In a study of the impact of foundations training in delivering nondirective pregnancy options counselling, online modules and objective structured clinical examinations were perceived as a highly positive experience, and nearly all students agreed that participating increased skills and comfort with nondirective options counselling [9].…”

“…In a study of the impact of foundations training in delivering nondirective pregnancy options counselling, online modules and objective structured clinical examinations were perceived as a highly positive experience, and nearly all students agreed that participating increased skills and comfort with nondirective options counselling [9]. Options counselling can be taught through narrative medicine and student reflection or through case-based inquiry; there are many resources available for the development of curricula specific to the learner population and legislative climate (Table 1) [8,9,10 ▪▪ ,11].…”

Sexual and reproductive health teaching in undergraduate medical education: A narrative review

“…33 A review of studies on pregnancy options counseling in North American medical schools concluded that additional organization and standardization of medical student education for this topic is needed. 1 Abortion Twenty-two studies discussed abortion care in medical education . 3,6,7,9,10,15,19,20,[24][25][26]29,30,[37][38][39]43,45,46,51,55,56 Some studies described specific education teaching approaches 15,38,43 while others assessed student perceptions of abortion education.…”

“…medical education of North American medical students on pregnancy options counseling, concluding that the education on this topic is "random, insufficient and uncoordinated". 1 This narrative review describes the published literature on abortion, emergency contraception, contraception, and pregnancy options counseling education for medical students around the world. We hope that by identifying educational strategies that effectively serve student learning and by describing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health curricula, this review will help medical school educators to ensure that students can adequately care for their future patients.…”

A Qualitative Analysis of Experiences of Medical Students Serving as Abortion Doulas

“…A full‐spectrum doula provides these services no matter the outcome of pregnancy, and an abortion doula provides these services for patients undergoing abortion procedures 4,5 . Abortion remains one of the most common procedures performed in the United States; however, few medical students are given opportunities to learn or observe the procedure in the course of their medical training 6–8 . With recent legal restrictions in the wake of the reversal of Roe v. Wade , these opportunities to train in abortion care have become significantly harder to access 9,10 …”