A new Monash study has highlighted the underutilisation of general practice nurses in being able to provide necessary contraception and abortion care.
New research from Monash University’s SPHERE Centre of Research Excellence has highlighted areas for improvement in Australia’s contraception and abortion care.
Two new papers in Journal of Advanced Nursing revealed the widespread underutilisation of general practice nurses when it came to advice, treatment, and consulting for patients regarding long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs).
Both papers included a survey of over 500 general practice nurses, the majority of which were working as registered nurses in metropolitan areas.
A point of concern were reports that Australia’s 14,500 practice nurse workforce lacked the structural support to provide LARCs or medical abortion.
“We found that practice nurses whose primary workplace was general practice were less likely to provide LARC or medication abortion services than those working in other settings, such as family planning organisations or women’s health services,” lead author Dr Sharon James said.
“Any way we can extend the number of providers increases women’s access to this care.
“Supportive policy, funding and training arrangements are needed to support practice nurses to provide LARC and medical abortion services in general practice settings.”
This underutilisation was also felt directly by practice nurses, with 90.4% of those interviewed feeling their support could assist patients to make informed decisions about their contraceptive choices.
The ability to support medical abortion was also assessed and was held in confidence by 71% of interviewees.
These responses stood in contrast to the number of nurses providing IUD-related services (11.2% of interviewees) or implants (15.9%) and even less involved in abortion care (8.6%).
“The barriers are really around funding mechanisms,” Dr James told The Medical Republic.
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“One in four women will have an unintended pregnancy, and 30% of those end in abortion and in rural areas, women are 1.4 times more likely to experience an unintended pregnancy.
“If there’s a way that we can improve access to prevention of unintended pregnancy, so effective forms of contraception, then we should be working towards that.
“That’s why surveys like this are important.”
Attitudes towards providing abortion care were positive amongst most nurses with the only barriers to providing being the financial barriers and ability to access necessary training.
“The Federal Government’s budget announcement of $25 million to establish LARC training centres for health professionals, including in regional and remote areas, will assist in meeting training needs,” Dr James said.
“Deregulation of medical abortion by the Therapeutic Goods Administration has supported better access, allowing prescribing by nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives.”
“Normalisation of abortion care as part of nursing education and routine practice would support its provision.”
