Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · May 2015
ReviewUpdate: A Review of Women's Health Fellowships, Their Role in Interdisciplinary Health Care, and the Need for Accreditation.
While Women's Health (WH) Fellowships have been in existence since 1990, knowledge of their existence seems limited. Specialized training in WH is crucial to educate leaders who can appropriately integrate this multidisciplinary field into academic centers, especially as the demand for providers confident in the areas of contraception, perimenopause/menopause, hormone therapy, osteoporosis, hypoactive sexual desire disorder, medical management of abnormal uterine bleeding, office based care of stress/urge incontinence, and gender-based medicine are increasing popular and highly sought after. ⋯ This article provides a current review of what WH trained physicians can offer patients, and also highlights the added value that accreditation would offer the field. Ultimately, accrediting WH fellowships will improve women's health medical education by creating specialists that can serve as academic leaders to help infuse gender specific education in primary residencies, as well as serve as consultants and leaders, and promote visibility and prestige of the field.
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Journal of women's health · May 2015
ReviewWomen's Health Fellowships: Examining the Potential Benefits and Harms of Accreditation.
This commentary responds to the assertions by Foreman et al. that credentialing of women's health (WH) fellows by the American Board of Medical Subspecialties and accreditation of current and future WH fellowships by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education would improve the health and healthcare of women by increasing the number of primary care providers competent to meet a growing clinical need. They speculate that such accreditation would raise the status of WH fellowships, increase the number of applicants, and result in more academic leaders in WH. They assert that curricular deficiencies in WH exist in physician training and that WH fellowships are the preferred means of training physicians to care for midlife women. We review the evidence to support or refute these claims and conclude that accrediting WH fellowships would not have the forecasted outcomes and would jeopardize the success of current WH fellowships.
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Journal of women's health · Apr 2015
Risk of behaviors associated with lethal violence and functional outcomes for abused women who do and do not return to the abuser following a community-based intervention.
To determine the differential risk of behaviors associated with lethal violence and functioning outcomes for abused women with children who received an intervention of shelter or justice services and return to the abuser were compared with women who did not return. ⋯ Risk of behaviors associated with lethal violence increases when abused women return to live with the abuser. Abused women should be informed of the heightened risk and greater probability for poor mental health.
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Journal of women's health · Apr 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialEnhancing referral of sexually active adolescent females from the emergency department to family planning.
Female adolescents at high pregnancy risk frequently visit the emergency department (ED) and lack primary providers. It is unclear if current methods of ED referral are successful. The objective of this pilot study was to assess the potential effect and feasibility of a standardized, enhanced method of referral of sexually active females from an ED for family planning (FP). ⋯ An enhanced referral initiative relying on physician participation did not substantially increase follow-up rates to a FP clinic and showed modest feasibility. More research is required to identify effective means of ED-based referral for preventive reproductive care.
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Journal of women's health · Apr 2015
Increasing prevalence of diabetes during pregnancy in South Carolina.
The objective of our study was to examine the prevalence of diabetes during pregnancy at the population level in SC from January 1996 through December 2008. ⋯ An increasing prevalence of diabetes during pregnancy is reported, as well as substantial lack of agreement in reporting of diabetes prevalence across administrative databases. Prevalence of reported diabetes during pregnancy is impacted by screening, diagnostic, and reporting practices across different data sources, as well as by actual changes in prevalence over time.