Renner, Regina M; Ennis, Madeleine; Kyeremeh, Ama; Norman, Wendy V; Dunn, Sheila; Pymar, Helen; Guilbert, Edith; (2022) Telemedicine for First-Trimester Medical Abortion in Canada: Results of a 2019 Survey. Telemedicine journal and e-health, 29 (5). pp. 686-695. ISSN 1530-5627 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2022.0245
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Abstract
Introduction: Telemedicine has the potential to improve abortion access disparities in Canada. We aimed to explore the provision of telemedicine for first-trimester medical abortion and related barriers in 2019. Methods: We conducted a national, cross-sectional, anonymized, web-based survey of clinicians who provided abortion care in 2019 in Canada. We distributed our survey through professional health organizations to maximize identification of possible eligible respondents and used a modified Dillman technique to foster responses. Questions elicited provider demographics, clinical characteristics, including telemedicine first-trimester medical abortion and perceived related barriers. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using R software. Results: Among 465 respondents, 388 reported providing first-trimester medical abortion across Canada; 44.0% reported experience using telemedicine for some components of care: 49.3% of primary care clinicians and 28.7% of specialists. Telemedicine was used for initial consultation (86.0%), prescription (82.2%), or follow-up (92.2%). The median percentage of telemedicine providers' patients who underwent a dating ultrasound was 90.0. The majority usually followed up with patients through quantitative human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) (84.2%). Seventy-eight percent perceived barriers to telemedicine; the most common being inability to confirm gestational age with ultrasound (43.0%), and lack of provincial telemedicine abortion fee code to pay practitioners (30.2%), timely access to serum hCG testing (24.6%), and nearby emergency services (23.3%). Discussion: In 2019, fewer than half of respondents reported providing some aspects of first-trimester medical abortion through telemedicine and the majority perceived barriers. Our results can inform knowledge translation activities to reduce barriers and increase telemedicine abortion care in Canada.
Item Type | Article |
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Faculty and Department | Faculty of Public Health and Policy > Public Health, Environments and Society |
PubMed ID | 36126299 |
Elements ID | 195072 |
Official URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2022.0245 |
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Filename: Renner_etal_2022_Telemedicine-for-first-trimester-medical.pdf
Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0
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