Providing emergency contraceptive pills "behind-the-counter": opinions among Minnesota healthcare providers.
We assessed strategies to increase access to emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) among healthcare providers in Minnesota. We hypothesized that physicians, mid-level practitioners (nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and physician assistants) and pharmacists would support collaborative drug therapy agreements to enable pharmacist provision of ECPs without a prescription ("behind-the-counter"). We assessed these and other strategies to improve access to ECPs among a random sample of 1000 healthcare providers using mailed surveys. Obtaining a 50% response rate (n = 495), we discovered that the majority of total respondents (and a significant proportion of physicians) favored improving ECP availability "behind-the-counter", over-the-counter or both. Support among mid-level practitioners was more guarded: 39% of respondents supported pharmacist provision of ECPs and more than 20% wanted more information. Among pharmacists, 46% said they would participate in a collaborative protocol for provision of ECPs. Results demonstrate the degree of support and illuminate potential obstacles to pharmacist-provided ECPs. While there is general support among Minnesota providers regarding ECPs, a campaign to educate providers about recent scientific data on ECPs and collaborative drug therapy agreements should be initiated.
Kumar
Anjali S
AS
Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco, 1411 East 31st Street, Oakland, CA 94602, USA. anjalikumar@post.harvard.edu
Hall
Lisabeth C
LC
LePage
Amy
A
Lim
Paul Chuwn
PC
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003277:Contraceptives, Oral, Combined / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D003281:Contraceptives, Postcoital / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008910:Minnesota; D010595:Pharmacists; D011247:Pregnancy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D003277:Contraceptives, Oral, Combined; D003281:Contraceptives, Postcoital