title: Core competencies in sexual and reproductive health for the interprofessional primary care team.
abstract: A primary care workforce that is well prepared to provide high-quality sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care has the potential to enhance access to care and reduce health disparities. This project aimed to identify core competencies to guide SRH training across the primary care professions.
  
  
  
  A six-member interprofessional expert working group drafted SRH competencies for primary care team members. Primary care providers including family physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives, physician assistants and pharmacists were invited to participate in a three-round electronic Delphi survey. In each round, participants voted by email to retain, eliminate or revise each competency, with their suggested edits to the competencies incorporated by the researchers after each round.
  
  
  
  Fifty providers from six professions participated. In Round 1, 17 of 33 draft competencies reached the 75% predetermined agreement level to be accepted as written. Five were combined, reducing the total number to 28. Based on Round 2 feedback, 21 competencies were reworded, and 2 were combined. In Round 3, all 26 competencies reached at least 83.7% agreement, with 9 achieving 100% agreement.
  
  
  
  The 33 core competencies encompass professional ethics and reproductive justice, collaboration, SRH services and conditions affecting SRH. These core competencies will be disseminated and adapted to each profession's scope of practice to inform required curricula.
  
  
  
  SRH competencies for primary care can inform the required curricula across professions, filling the gap between an established standard of care necessary to meet patient needs and the outcomes of that care.
authors.affiliation: University of New Hampshire. Electronic address: joyce.cappiello@unh.edu.
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cappiello
authors.affiliation: University of New Mexico, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131. Electronic address: amylevi@salud.unm.edu.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Levi
authors.affiliation: Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI. Electronic address: melissa_nothnagle@brown.edu.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nothnagle
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003479:Curriculum; D003697:Delphi Technique; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000592:standards*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D060728:Reproductive Health / Q000193:education*
keywords: Core competencies; Interprofessional; Modified Delphi study; Reproductive health; Sexual health