Ipas’s mentor program supports US health-care providers in improving abortion care

Although the mentor program is initially being piloted in the United States, there has already been interest in replicating the model internationally.

Many hospitals across the United States would benefit—in terms of reducing costs and improving the care women receive—by moving miscarriage and abortion services out of the operating room and into clinics and emergency rooms.

This takes more than just the willingness to change, however—it takes practical tools and skills for overcoming a formidable range of administrative and logistical barriers. To support health-care providers who are eager, but not fully trained or equipped, to face those barriers, Ipas recently launched the Technical Assistance In-Service and Mentoring Program in the United States.

The main goal of Ipas's innovative new program is to expand the use of manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and medication technologies —two preferred methods for uterine evacuation —as outpatient procedures in hospital emergency rooms and outpatient clinics.

The program will facilitate change by connecting health-care providers who have successfully updated their miscarriage management and abortion services with those who are seeking to initiate such progress.

“At many facilities,” said Rivka Gordon, Ipas's United States Program Director, “there are health-care providers who would take the lead on improving service delivery if only they had the guidance, support and practical tools required. That's what this mentoring program aims to provide.”

In May 2005, Ipas held a national training workshop for the first cadre of mentors. The mentors, who all have strong clinical skills and experience improving miscarriage management and abortion service delivery, include obstetrician-gynecologists, physician assistants, a nurse-midwife, and specialists in family medicine and pediatrics/adolescent medicine.

Since the May training, the mentors have developed relationships with health-care providers from 20 hospitals across the United States who are interested in updating their miscarriage management and abortion services.

The hospitals were selected for inclusion in the pilot program based on their:

• Interest in transitioning miscarriage management and/or abortion care from the operating room to a clinic or emergency room setting;
• Interest in reducing costs, increasing the acceptability of services, improving service delivery and training clinicians in all safe and effective abortion methods;
• Potential to share new knowledge with clinicians and other health-care facilities in their geographic area; Ability to provide service-delivery data that can be used in the future for development of standards and guidelines for outpatient miscarriage and abortion services.

“This program will establish a teaching and learning community that enables health-care providers who have successfully integrated MVA and medication technologies into ambulatory settings to share knowledge, skills and support with colleagues,” said Gordon.

“In turn, those colleagues will then become mentors for others. By this multiplier effect, we hope to see meaningful, long-lasting change in the care women receive.”

Those involved in the program will receive an initial site visit and in-service training on MVA and medication technologies, as needed, from their mentor. The mentoring relationship will continue at a distance, by regular e-mail and phone communication, through at least the following year. Mentors will also provide technical assistance—such as case studies, training videos, sample protocols, cost analyses and more—as appropriate.

Program participants and other interested colleagues will also have the opportunity to participate in a nationwide, moderated online discussion group on moving miscarriage and abortion care out of the operating room.

Although the mentor program is initially being piloted in the United States, there has already been interest in replicating the model internationally.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258