Abortion training in three family medicine programs: resident and patient outcomes

Three family medicine residency programs in California integrated abortion training into routine gynecology rotations in academic years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005. Forty-six (88%) of 52 eligible residents participated in the abortion training sessions. Of these 46 residents, 39 (85%) chose to perform abortion procedures, and seven residents elected to provide other aspects of patient care only. Resident evaluations of the training program were overwhelmingly positive. Moreover, two thirds of the 43 post-training survey respondents reported that the training program increased their interest in providing abortion services, and no resident reported decreased interest. The resident complication rate was 1.0%. In post-procedure surveys completed by 155 patients at two training sites, patients reported a high level of satisfaction with the care they received from the training team. These program evaluation results suggest that abortion training can safely be integrated into family medicine residency programs, with a positive reception by both residents and patients.