Purpose: We evaluated medical student and obstetrics and gynecology (ObGyn) resident attitudes about abortion.
Background: Abortion education, while valued by medical students, is lacking in medical education curricula. Residents are key contributors to medical student education. Few studies evaluate the attitudes of medical students and ObGyn residents about abortion and no studies compare attitudes between the two groups.
Methods: Third-year medical students and ObGyn residents at two midwestern medical schools participated in virtual adaptations of the “Four-Corners” values clarification and attitude transformation workshop from January through July 2021. Prior to the workshop, participants completed an online survey assessing baseline abortion attitudes. We created a summative attitude score from 0 (most negative) to 100 (most positive) and used unpaired t-tests to measure significant differences (p< 0.05) in individual survey questions and the composite score.
Results: A total of 39 residents and 126 students participated in the workshop, 26 residents (67%) and 81 students (64%) completed the pre-survey. Residents had a more positive mean attitude score (90.4) than students (82.3) (p = 0.005). There were significant differences in 7/17 survey statements with residents more likely to agree to statements about comfort increasing abortion access (p=0.005), observing (p=0.002) or performing (p=0.011) abortions, empathy for abortion patients (p=0.008) and universal access to first (p=0.026) and second (p< 0.001) trimester abortion.
Discussions: Our study suggests ObGyn residents have a more positive attitude toward abortion than medical students. Understanding the specific areas where differences exist can improve abortion education provided to medical students by ObGyn residents
Topics: CREOG & APGO Annual Meeting, 2022, Student, Resident, Faculty, Clerkship Director, Clerkship Coordinator, Osteopathic Faculty, Residency Director, Residency Coordinator, Professionalism, Interpersonal & Communication Skills, GME, Team-Based Learning, Contraception or Family Planning,
Jordan Ward, MD, UW Madison SMPH; Elise S. Cowley, BS; Jessika A. Ralph, MD, MSCI; Allison Linton, MD, MPH; Daniel L. Pellicer, MD; Laura Jacques, MD
