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Component 3.1

Linkages to Contraception Services

Strategies

  • Conduct an organizational assessment to identify which clinicians can offer the full range of contraception options, including procedure-based methods such as sterilization, IUDs, implants and diaphragm fittings.
    • Determine which ones are only comfortable with prescription-based methods.
    • Ensure good communication regarding which clinicians offer which services so that patients can be referred internally first.1,2
  • For any contraceptive methods not available within the clinic, identify clinicians in the community who are willing to serve as a referral resource. Communicate with them about how to optimize referrals for those services.1,2
  • Ensure that counseling documentation reflects the fact that all methods were offered to the patient. If the patient chooses a method not available, document the clinic to which the patient was referred.
  • If as a result of this self-assessment your clinic scores as an “expert-level” provider, then draft a letter to the practice managers of local provider offices that: introduces your practice as an expert-level contraception practice; reviews the contraceptive methods your practice offers; and explains your availability as a resource to provide telephone consultation or patient referrals with contraceptive complications or difficult contraceptive management issues (e.g. ultrasound on-site).

Resources

  1. Geiger Gibson /RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative, Policy Research Brief # 26A; Natural Fit: Collaborations Between Community Health Centers and Family Planning Clinics; George Washington University, October 9, 2011: http://www.rchnfoundation.org/?page_id=1563
  2. OHA, Effective Contraceptive Use Among Women at Risk of Unintended Pregnancy: A Guidance Document, page 28: http://www.oregon.gov/oha/analytics/CCOData/Effective%20 Contraceptive%20Use%20Guidance%20Document.pdf