Contraceptive counseling can be a complex topic for both healthcare providers and patients. There are many options available for women who are either trying to conceive or avoid getting pregnant, but each woman comes into a health setting with their own needs, health concerns and goals. And healthcare professionals are tasked with working with the women to figure out the best option for their needs in the short amount of time they are there in that health setting.
Enter Rachel Preiss, MS, RN, WHNP-BC, IBCLC, SANE – nurse practitioner at the Dimock Center in Boston, Massachusetts, nurse educator at The National TeleNursing Center, and 2016-2017 Fellow of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing’s Maternal-Child Health Nurse Leadership Academy (MCHNLA). Drawing from her experience as a nurse, her passion for women’s health, the concept of shared decision-making and her team in the MCHNLA program, Rachel developed an innovative tool to help healthcare professionals ask the right questions during contraceptive counseling to better understand and address the needs of the patient.
The Johnson & Johnson Notes on Nursing team recently spoke with Rachel to learn more about her tool, how it can help improve patient outcomes, how it feels to return to MCHNLA as a mentor and what she’s excited for in the Year of the Nurse and Midwife.
Johnson & Johnson partnered with the Sigma Theta Tau International Leadership Institute to develop the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing's Maternal-Child Health Nurse Leadership Academy program. To learn more about Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and their new Nurse Leadership Academy for Practice program, visit here.
[1] Preiss, RM. Arterberry, K. & Tucker, J. (2017). Development and Evaluation of a Shared Decision Making Tool for Contraceptive Counseling. Poster, Sigma Theta Tau Biennial Conference, Indianapolis, IN. https://sigma.nursingrepository.org/handle/10755/623319
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