Counselling of complications of termination of pregnancy within a single trust setting

Abstract

The authors performed an initial retrospective audit of the notes of women requesting termination of pregnancy (TOP) in both nurse-led and consultant-led clinics. The standard for the audit was documented counselling of six of the potential complications recognized by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. The initial audit cycle found that consultant-led notes had recorded consent for a mean of two potential complications, while nurse-led notes had recorded consent for a mean of four potential complications. Following this initial audit cycle, the authors introduced an integrated care pathway (ICP) document. In addition to entries about personal information and medical history, a section about potential complications was included. These were included as tickboxes, as the authors intended them to act as prompts. After introduction of this ICP, the authors re-audited notes prospectively. Following this cycle, consultant-led notes now had a recorded consent for a mean of four potential complications, while nurse-led notes had recorded consent for a mean of five potential complications. Discussion