Society of Family Planning Research Fund Grant Announcement

Gynuity Health Projects received a grant from the Society of Family Planning Research Fund to generate evidence to help sustain the no-test medication abortion strategy post pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered the rapid implementation of innovations to reduce contact between patients and providers, including providing medication abortions without prior clinical exams or ultrasounds. The No-Test Medication Abortion (NTMA) study team expeditiously formed a cohesive working group and created infrastructure to collect data on patients receiving this model of care. Similarly other service provision systems adopted the NTMA model and recorded their experiences. However, evidence to date lacks a concurrent, well-followed comparison group to examine patient characteristics and clinical outcomes of those who did and did not receive NTMA services.

This project seeks to 1) conduct a retrospective chart review to add a concurrent comparison group to the NTMA study in order to compare the efficacy and safety of medication abortion with and without a pretreatment ultrasound or pelvic examination, 2) conduct a systematic review of NTMA outcomes among available datasets and 3) widely disseminate the new information, including production of an easily accessible animation, to encourage providers to continue or begin NTMA practice after the emergency has subsided. Ultimately, our project will support the possibility of the NTMA innovation becoming a sustainable standard of care even after the pandemic has abated.

The study is being led by Laura Frye