RESUMEN
Background In the United States, new regulations on access to abortion and, in some cases, penalization of physicians who provide abortions, have been established on a state-by-state basis. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that medical schools include abortion training in their curriculum. It is still unknown if the Dobbs decision will limit medical students' abortion training and/or discourage them from pursuing a career in obstetrics. The goal of this study was to investigate the attitudes of medical students toward abortion following the Dobbs decision and their beliefs about its possible effect on future medical education and practice. Methods This cross-sectional, observational study collected data from students enrolled in a Florida, United States osteopathic medical school using an anonymous online questionnaire from February to March 2023. The questionnaire contained 35 items that addressed medical students' attitudes towards a range of potential implications on medical training due to the new abortion restrictions. Hypothesis testing was performed using Spearman's rho correlation and multivariate linear regression to explore the relationship between the predictor variables (concerns about future practice regarding abortion, religiosity, and acceptability of abortion based on gestation age) and the predicted variable (attitudes about abortion). Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, IBM Corp., Version 28.0, Armonk, NY). Results In total, 158 participants completed the questionnaire; 91 (57.6%) were women. The mean age was 25.8 (range 21-37 years). Using a stepwise regression analysis, only the variables shown to be statistically associated (per Spearman's rho bivariate correlation) with the predicted variable (abortion attitudes) were entered into the model (i.e., concerns about abortion education and future practice, religiosity, and abortion acceptability based on gestational age). A significant regression equation was found (F(3,134) = 205.750, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.822, R2 adjusted = 0.818). The percentage of variance in the scores accounted for by the model was 82%. Higher levels of feeling that the abortion ban would negatively affect their training and future practice, greater religiosity, and acceptability of abortion at later gestation ages were statistically significant predictors of more positive attitudes toward abortion in this sample of osteopathic medical students. Conclusions The results suggest that the attitudes of medical students toward abortion are related to multiple factors, including concerns about future abortion training, religiosity, and the week of pregnancy acceptable for a woman to have an abortion. Findings also highlight the attitudes of medical students in response to more restrictive abortion legislation, emphasizing their desire for possible curricular enhancements to safeguard their training and education.
RESUMEN
The pediatric population is more prone to experiencing anxiety and fear before undergoing an inpatient surgical procedure than adults. Non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as music therapy and virtual reality programs, have shown significant promise in reducing the post-operative pain associated with pre-operative anxiety of patients and their caregivers. While there is evidence to support the use of non-pharmaceutical treatment in the mitigation of pre-operative anxiety, there are limited published reports of non-pharmacological interventions for pre-operative anxiety in children undergoing inpatient surgical procedures. The goal of this scoping review was to identify and classify specific non-pharmacological interventions utilized inpatient among children to improve pre-operative anxiety and post-operative complications inflicting pain. Comprehensive searches were conducted using Ovid Medline, Embase Emtree, CINAHL Complete, and COCHRANE Central databases. The articles had to be peer-reviewed, written in English, published between 2000-2022, and contain measurements of pre-operative anxiety and post-operative pain to be included in the scoping review. Articles that reported findings on patients younger than 18 undergoing elective and/or routine surgeries, excluding emergent surgical cases, were selected. After a systemized screening process, 9 articles were selected for the final review. The findings indicated that non-pharmacological interventions such as virtual reality, hypnosis, and clowns reduced pre-operative anxiety and post-operative pain in pediatric patients. This scoping review identified a wide range of non-pharmacological interventions to mitigate the post-operative effects of pre-operative anxiety among children, including but not limited to music, visual reality, and other holistic methods. More longitudinal studies are warranted to understand the specific interventions that may be the most efficacious.
