Mifepristone, a drug that brings about a medical abortion was approved by Health Canada approved July 2015 and is expected to become available in summer 2016. Only registered doctors who complete a certified, online training program will be allowed to prescribe and dispense the drug.
The aim of this research is to improve access to equitable, high quality medical abortion service throughout BC and Canada, particularly in rural areas by examining the facilitators and barriers for successful initiation and ongoing provision for medical abortion service among health professionals undertaking mifepristone training, and how these relate to access to abortion services throughout Canada.
The research addresses three BC Ministry of Health priority areas: rural health services, primary and community care and future directions for surgical services.
Research Objectives:
- To understand health policy, system and service facilitators and barriers to the distribution and implementation of mifepristone abortion practice.
- To assess the impact of a “Community of Practice” platform to detect and support clinical, health service, and system challenges faced by clinicians adopting mifepristone medical abortion practice.
- To evaluate continuous integrated knowledge translation with health policy, health system and health services decision makers and health professional organizations to reduce barriers, and optimize facilitators, for mifepristone abortion practice.