Prescribing contraception  for young women.
BACKGROUND
Since 2002, specially qualified nursing sisters and midwives have had the right to prescribe contraceptive pills for women aged 16 to 19. This arrangement has since been expanded to cover hormonal contraception, with the exception of the hormonal coil. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the arrangement.


METHODS
The prescription register uses pseudonyms and contains a number of facts about user, medication and prescriber. A database of women born in 1989, totalling 29,821, has been designed as a unit for analysis.


RESULTS
75 and 79% of the cohort had filled at least one prescription for contraceptive pills or hormonal contraception by the end of the calendar year in which they turned 19. Almost 12% had filled at least one prescription for the mini-pill, while far fewer had filled prescriptions for vaginal hormone ring, contraceptive injection, contraceptive patch or hormonal coil. Doctors issued two third of the prescriptions. Nursing sisters wrote more prescriptions than doctors for the age group 17-18. The period of time during which they had been using the contraceptive pill and the mini-pill did not depend on who prescribed them.


CONCLUSIONS
The fact that close to 80% of the cohort born in 1989 has filled at least one prescription for hormonal contraception shows that there is a high degree of awareness about preventing unplanned pregnancy. Extending the right to write prescriptions to nurses and midwives has increased the availability of contraception, and young women are taking advantage of this option.
Women's Health and Perinatology Research Group, Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, N-9038 Tromsø, Norway. eskjelde@online.no
Finn Egil
FE
Skjeldestad
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D003271:Contraceptive Agents, Female / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000592:standards; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000592:standards; D016208:Databases, Factual; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007436:Intrauterine Devices, Medicated / Q000592:standards; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D009721:Nurse Midwives; D009726:Nurses; D010820:Physicians; D055815:Young Adult
D003271:Contraceptive Agents, Female; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral