Knowledge and practice among health professionals concerning emergency contraception

Fathizadeh. N , Fahami . F.

Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan, Iran

Introduction: Emergency contraception prevents pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse .It can be administered after the known failure of existing methods (broken sheaths, expelled intrauterine contraceptive devices and…) or following intercourse without use of contraceptive. It has been available in the UK since 1974. However, knowledge and practice of this method of preventing pregnancy seems less widespread than that would be expected to be and it does not appear to have made any impacts on the rate of induced abortion, which has risen over the last 15 years. These suggest the unplanned and unwanted pregnancies carry a higher risk of morbidity and mortality among mothers and children often due to unsafe Abortion. The risk of pregnancy with one unprotected act of intercourse can be as high as one in four, depending on the cycle and day of exposure in relation to ovulation.

Methods: This study is a national cross sectional study carried out on 154 staff employees at health centers. Questionnaires about knowledge were given to all practitioners, family planning midwives and family health members in the health centers in Isfahan University of Medical Science in 1999-2000. All personnel were involved in this research. Medical & Menstrual & pregnancy history, date of end to use contraceptive method, date of unprotected intercourse, description of side effect of used ECP for client, time of menstruation after use of ECP and date for follow up were observed by the researchers. Findings were analyzed using the SPSS/PC statistical package.

Results: Findings showed that 38.1% of health professionals were at excellent level of knowledge, 29.9% were average, 20% good, 9.7% weak and 8.4% very weak. The survey of ECP showed that basic awareness about this method is high, although specific practice on appropriate use such as time limit for use, the level of effectiveness and the possible side effects were lacking. 37/7% of health professionals were having poor score practice.

Discussion: Most of health staff were at very poor score of practice (37/7%). Lack of information causes the staff to have inappropriate practice and lack of knowledge on practice causes the staff not to function appropriately resulting in unwanted pregnancy that can induce higher morbidity and mortality in mothers and children.

Key Words: Knowledge, Practice, Post Coital Contraception, Emergency Contraceptive Pill.