This Women’s Health and Birth Control Training for Healthcare Personnel equips healthcare providers with essential knowledge on women’s health, covering common health conditions and birth control options. Providers explore various birth control methods, their effectiveness, and best counseling practices. The course debunks myths and misconceptions, ensuring accurate patient education. By completing this training, providers gain the skills to support patients in making informed reproductive health decisions.
What You Will Learn:
- Common women’s health conditions
- Different types of birth control methods
- The effectiveness of various birth control methods
- Skills for counseling patients on birth control options
- Common myths and misconceptions about birth control
Details:
Course length: 2 hours and 15 minutes; CME: 2.25
Languages: American English
Key features: Audio narration, learning activity, and post-assessment.
American Medical Compliance is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education to physicians. Our Continuing Medical Education (CME) program is committed to enhancing the knowledge, skills, and professional performance of healthcare providers to improve patient care outcomes. Through high-quality educational activities, we aim to address the identified educational gaps and to support the continuous professional development of our medical community. American Medical Compliance designates this activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. Physicians should only claim this credit for their complete participation in this activity.
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Introduction to Women's Health
Women’s health needs differ from those of men. Likewise, children are not simply miniature adults. A woman’s body differs critically from a man’s in both structure and function, and a child’s body doesn’t fully mimic an adult’s.
Each group’s brain functions differently and responds in different ways to even the same stimuli. Each group often processes medications differently. And, of course, men, women, and children interact with the larger world and are affected by events in different ways. Women and children have been labeled by some observers as the “unequal majority” in health and health care. Historically, the bulk of health studies have used adult men, with researchers and physicians left to infer how the studies apply to women and children.
This Women’s Health and Birth Control Training highlights the unique needs of women and children, emphasizing their differences in body function and medication response. Historically, research focused on adult men, often neglecting these groups. This course equips providers with key knowledge on women’s health, birth control, and patient counseling, ensuring equitable, effective care.
Birth Control Methods
When considering contraceptive methods, counseling should include efficiency, safety, acceptability and availability (including accessibility and affordability). Voluntarily informing the choice of contraceptive methods is an important guiding principle, and contraceptive counseling, when associable, is a marked contributor to the successful use of contraceptive methods.
Birth control methods are designed to prevent conception or interrupt or nullify implantation and growth. Conception can be prevented by:
- Hormonally disrupting the menstrual cycle (Oral contraceptive (OC) pills)
- By physically blocking the passageway (barrier methods or sterilization)
- Or less successfully, by abstinence during fertile periods or withdrawal method.
Implantation is impaired via the use of a foreign body (intrauterine device {IUD}) or surgical removal (Salpingectomy or Vasectomy).
This Women’s Health and Birth Control Training equips providers with essential knowledge of contraceptive methods, including medications, devices, and procedures. Understanding effectiveness, safety, and accessibility is key to informed counseling and patient-centered family planning. Providers play a vital role in guiding patients to the best contraception options for their needs.
Contraceptive Benefits and Risks
Pregnancy and childbirth carry risks of morbidity and mortality. Although the contraceptives that couples use to avoid pregnancy have their own health risks, they also have substantial noncontraceptive health benefits.
Information about these risks and benefits is necessary for informed decision making. Oral contraceptives, for example, not only prevent pregnancy, but they also reduce the risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer and protect against acute pelvic inflammatory disease and ectopic pregnancies. However, oral contraceptives increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
This Women’s Health and Birth Control Training teaches providers to assess the risks and benefits of contraceptive methods for informed patient decision-making. Contraceptives not only prevent pregnancy but also offer health benefits, such as lowering ovarian and endometrial cancer risk and protecting against pelvic inflammatory disease and ectopic pregnancy. However, oral contraceptives can raise cardiovascular disease risk, and IUDs may increase infection risk in high-risk groups. Barrier methods provide STI protection, including against HIV, but are less effective at preventing pregnancy. Providers will learn to offer personalized, evidence-based counseling to improve patient health and reproductive outcomes.
Counseling and Education on Birth Control
Improving the quality of contraceptive counseling is one strategy to prevent unintended pregnancy. We identify aspects of relational and task-oriented communication in family planning care that can assist providers in meeting their patients’ needs. Approaches to optimizing women’s experiences of contraceptive counseling include working to develop a close, trusting relationship with patients and using a shared decision-making approach that focuses on eliciting and responding to patient preferences. Providing counseling about side effects and using strategies to promote contraceptive continuation and adherence can also help optimize women’s use of contraception.
This course trains providers to improve contraceptive counseling and reduce unintended pregnancies, especially in underserved groups. Providers build trust, use shared decision-making, and educate patients on side effects and adherence to enhance contraceptive use, support informed choices, and advance health equity.
Pregnancy and Preconception Care
The primary goals of preconception counseling and care are to educate individuals and couples, assess risks, optimize medical care, and offer interventions before pregnancy to minimize the likelihood of poor pregnancy-related outcomes.
Nearly half of all pregnancies that occur annually are unplanned. Therefore, any encounter with a nonpregnant individual of reproductive potential should be considered an opportunity to discuss healthy habits.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends screening these individuals by asking, “Would you like to become pregnant in the next year?” If so, preconception counseling is recommended; otherwise, contraceptive counseling is recommended. Additionally, specific visits dedicated to preconception counseling should be recommended to all individuals desiring a pregnancy.
This Women’s Health and Birth Control Training teaches providers key preconception counseling skills to help patients optimize health before pregnancy. Providers can use every visit to discuss healthy habits, risk assessment, and family planning. Providers will also learn to screen patients effectively and provide tailored counseling to improve pregnancy outcomes and overall well-being.
