Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptive Knowledge And Use In Medical Students

INTRODUCTION: We assessed medical student use and knowledge of long acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods. METHODS: Medical students were surveyed electronically about their use and knowledge of LARC methods. A total LARC knowledge score was calculated by summing of the scores for all questions (range 0 to 8). LARC knowledge scores were compared between preclinical and clinical medical students, and further stratified by gender. The Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel (CMH) test was used to test the association between groups of total scores (0-3, 4-5, 6-8) and preclinical and clinical years among male and female students, controlling for age. RESULTS: Medical students use LARC methods more than the general population (30.1%, 95% CI: 24.7, 36.8 compared to 11.6% in the US population). LARC use increased from preclinical to clinical years (46% vs. 75% in the highest score group, CMH test p-value <0.0001, adjusting for age and gender). Knowledge scores were higher for preclinical years (mean score 5.25 vs 3.93, p-value=0.0016), but no significant difference for clinical years (mean score 6.54 vs 6.05, p-value=0.1621) when comparing female with male medical students. Both genders demonstrated increased LARC knowledge from pre-clinical to the clinical years, (p-value<0.0001 for both comparisons). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that medical school curricula impart accurate knowledge of LARC methods, translating into increased use compared to the general population as well as increased use and knowledge across their medical education. The gender discrepancy in LARC knowledge suggests that curricula need to be improved to ensure that both male and female medical students take away similar knowledge.