Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Sep 8, 2022
Date Accepted: Jul 30, 2023
Telephone-based intervention to improve family planning care in pregnancies of unknown location
ABSTRACT
Background:
Patients followed for a pregnancy of unknown location (PUL) at are generally followed by a team of clinicians through telephone calls and their contraceptive needs at the time of pregnancy resolution may not be addressed.
Objective:
To assess contraceptive counseling and contraceptive uptake before and after a telephone-based intervention.
Methods:
This was a retrospective study assessing pregnancy intendedness in women with pregnancy of unknown location and proportion of patients who received contraceptive counseling and a contraceptive prescription before and after the initiation of a telephone-based intervention.
Results:
Of 220 patients, the proportion of pregnancies documented as unintended was 60%. Prior to our intervention, 27/100 (27.0%) of patients received contraceptive counseling, compared to 94/120 (78.3%) after the intervention (OR 9.77, CI 5.26-18.16). Prior to the intervention, 17/90 (18.9%) of patients who did not desire repeat pregnancy received contraception compared to 32/86 (37.2%) after the intervention (OR 2.54, CI 1.28-5.05).
Conclusions:
We found that over half of patients with PUL have unintended pregnancy, and standardization of care through a telephone-based intervention improves contraceptive counseling and prescribing in patients with a resolved pregnancy of unknown location. This intervention could be used at any institution that follows patients with pregnancy of unknown location remotely to improve care.
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