EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION;

KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF FAMILY PHYSICIAN OF A TEACHING HOSPITAL, LAHORE

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the knowledge of family medicine health care providers and their attitude towards emergency
contraception (EC) in Lahore Medical and Dental College and out-patient centers of Ghurki Teaching Hospital Lahore. Data Source: Medline
Data Base. Design of Study: Cross sectional descriptive study. Duration: 3 months period, from March to June 2011. Materials & Methods:
Faculty physicians from different specialties, residents, and medical officers were included in the study. Data was collected on a structured precoded
21 –item questionnaire containing demographic profile of the respondents and questions concerning their knowledge, attitudes and
beliefs towards emergency contraception. Results: In total 85 interviews were conducted with the response rate of 100%. There were 43faculty
members (50%), 14 residents (16%) and 28 medical officers (32%), 51 male (60%), 34 female (40%) physicians, the majority58 (68%) were
married. Although 79 of the respondents (92.9%) reported considerable familiarity with EC, objective assessment revealed deficiency in their
knowledge. Only 41(48%) correctly chose menstrual irregularity not being most common side effect of Per oral emergency contraception
(POEC) while only 28(32.9%) of respondents answered that EC is not an abortifacient. Only 30 respondents (35%) had an opportunity to learn
about EC through workshops. Among the barriers identified 27 respondents believe that as use of POEC would promote sexual promiscuity
(31%)and 59 were concerned about birth defects/ side effects (69%).Religious and ethical barriers were also a concern in 57(67%) and
62(69%) of the respondents respectively. Overall attitudes regarding emergency contraception were positive, however 45(52.9%) were
unsatisfied with their current knowledge and 77 (90%) were interested in learning more about EC. Conclusions: Physicians need more
detailed information about EC, which would increase the application rate of the users and decrease their own prejudices