 |
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
|
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Ashlesha Patel, MD, Rebecca Simons, MD MPH, Lee Shulman, MD, and Carol Petraitis, BA. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2650 N Lakeview #3904, Chicago, IL 60614, 773-832-9911, apatel82@uic.edu
Context: Approximately 1-5% of sexual assaults result in pregnancy accounting for greater than 25,000 pregnancies per year. Many of these pregnancies could be averted if emergency contraception (EC) is offered at the acute care sexual assault visit. Catholic Institutions often have policies that prevent the provision of EC to these patients. Objective: The purpose of our study was to compare the percent of emergency rooms of non-Catholic institutions to Catholic institutions offering emergency contraception to victims of sexual assault for pregnancy prophylaxis. Design and Methods: A questionnaire was administered to hospitals with emergency rooms that care for sexual assault patients in the state of Pennsylvania. Setting Emergency Rooms treating victims of sexual assault in the state of Pennsylvania Participants. 165/248 hospitals in Pennsylvania were eligible; 142 were non-Catholic and 23 were Catholic. Main Outcome Measures: The number of hospitals that routinely counsel and provide EC to victims of sexual assault. Results: 88% of non-Catholic hospitals and 76% of Catholic hospitals were surveyed. 32% of non- – Catholic institutions routinely offered counseling and provision of emergency contraception whereas only 6% of Catholic institutions routinely offer and provide EC. Conclusion: Provision of EC is low in all hospitals in our study, this was particularly true in the Catholic institutions.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Sexual Assault, Barriers to Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.