title: Assessing abortion coverage in nurse practitioner programs in Canada: a national survey of program directors.
abstract: Although nurse practitioners (NPs) play a critical role in the delivery of reproductive health services in Canada, there is a paucity of published information regarding the reproductive health education provided in their training programs. Our study aimed to understand better the didactic and curricular coverage of abortion in Canadian NP programs.
  
  
  
  In 2014, we conducted a 3-contact, bilingual (English-French) mailed survey to assess the coverage of, time dedicated to and barriers to inclusion of 17 different areas of reproductive health, including abortion. We also asked respondents to speculate on whether or not mifepristone would be incorporated into the curriculum if approved by Health Canada for early abortion. We analyzed our results with descriptive statistics and used inductive techniques to analyze the open-ended questions for content and themes.
  
  
  
  Sixteen of 23 (70%) program directors or their designees returned our survey. In general, abortion-related topics received less coverage than contraception, ectopic pregnancy management and miscarriage management. Fifty-six percent of respondents reported that their program did not offer information about first-trimester abortion procedures and/or post-abortion care in the didactic curriculum. Respondents expressed interest in incorporating mifepristone/misoprostol into NP education and training.
  
  
  
  Reproductive health issues receive uneven and often inadequate curricular coverage in Canadian NP programs. Identifying avenues to expand education and training on abortion appears warranted. Embarking on curricular reform efforts is especially important given the upcoming introduction of mifepristone into the Canadian health system for early abortion.
  
  
  
  Our findings draw attention to the need to integrate abortion-related content into NP education and training programs. The approval of Mifegymiso® may provide a window of opportunity to engage in curriculum reform efforts across the health professions in Canada.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Lindsay
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sheinfeld
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Grady
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arnott
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: El-Haddad
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada; Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. Electronic address: angel.foster@uottawa.ca.
authors.forename: Angel M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Foster
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000193:education*; D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000628:therapy; D002170:Canada; D003479:Curriculum / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015735:Mifepristone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016595:Misoprostol / Q000008:administration & dosage; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000193:education*; D008486:Physician Executives; D011247:Pregnancy; D034121:Reproductive Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D016595:Misoprostol; D015735:Mifepristone
keywords: Medication abortion; Mifepristone; Nurse practitioners; Reproductive health