Contraceptive Counseling

Community healthcare providers use contraceptive counseling to provide the necessary information and support a patient's decision-making related to contraceptive methods because choosing a contraceptive method is an intricate decision. Education is considered an important element of the counseling method. Contraceptive education aims to help in using the selected contraceptive methods effectively. Healthcare providers provide the families with some techniques (such as pills) for family planning. It helps in spacing their pregnancies appropriately by attaining the desired number of children. Healthcare providers face many challenges while doing contraceptive counseling. For example, gender-based barriers and dread of side effects. (Cavallaro, 2020)

Dr. Stanwood once said, “A great medical care should be given to women for their health. As health providers, we talk with patients related to contraception. The reason behind it is that we make them educate and empower. We are here to find out which method is best for the woman and help her connect with the best possible method regarding contraception (Macmillan, 2019).

As a healthcare provider, providing every available option to my patient about contraception is my responsibility. The method that patients feel comfortable with while doing it is considered the best method of contraception.  I will provide the safest method to my patient that she will use correctly and consistently. I will not impose my decision on the patient. Knowing the options of my patient while deciding on the choice of contraception will be the most important in the decision-making process.  As a healthcare provider, I will honestly assess my patient while deciding which contraception method is best for her.  (Goldstein & Hubbard, 2018)

I counsel patients on their choices and foster a therapeutic relationship with them by developing a suitable level of intimacy. I never pressurize the woman to practice a specific method by dismissing her concerns. I provide evidence-based counseling to my patients about the side effects. I always report differences in contraceptive counseling and guide women at risk for sexually transmitted infections.

I recently interacted with a family who was in search of contraception counseling facilities and family planning.  I learned that the father's point of view was that only the mother has a role in family planning. Even he did not agree with the idea of vasectomy. He thought that the method of contraception would harm his sexuality and it will lead to prostate cancer. I addressed this issue by counseling the father that the mother and the father have a role in family planning.  After that, I talked about all the procedures and risks related to the contraceptive method.

I built trust and addressed their concerns respectfully about birth control methods. I did not put pressure on them to use the specific method of contraception. This all helped them to choose a method that met their preferences and needs and manage side effects. The counseling was of high quality that strengthened the efforts to reduce the unmet need for birth control.

Now, I am going to share another experience during contraceptive counseling. Recently, I met a woman who was still having her reproductive years but was facing Tourette's syndrome ( involved vocal and motor tics), due to which her tubes were removed. She became frightened when she came to know that she was pregnant last year. The reason for becoming frightened is that she might hurt the baby inadvertently. She got her baby delivered via C-section.  Her baby was a miracle from paradise. Her body undergoes sudden twitches so bad (because of Tourette syndrome) that I often observed that she uncontrollably hurt people haphazardly. Even, she hit my belly area many times when I was observing her on the examination table. She was screaming and squeaking. She was continuously apologizing to me. I assured her that she was not hurting me because I clearly understood her situation. I realized that she did not intend to inflict pain on me, and it was happening unintentionally.  I shared this experience because, as a healthcare provider, I want to remind you that there are different contraceptive methods, and not every birth control method suits everyone. The removal of tubes was the right choice that she made due to her poor health.  The suitability of contraceptive methods depends on the condition and lifestyle of a patient.

The misconception that most people have is that all the contraceptive methods are similar in terms of safety. But it's false because some methods perform better work than others.  Dr. Stanwood says, "I tell patients that IUD gives more protection as compared to vasectomy for men and tube ligation for women." But as I discussed earlier that the selection of contraception method depends upon the condition of the patient. In my experience mentioned above, ligation of the tube was the right decision the woman made depending on her health condition.  

As a healthcare provider, I always recommend the type of contraception that suits my patient's lifestyle. For some people, the comfortable form of contraception may not disturb the sexual experience, has no side effects, and is stress-free to use. For others, suitability means no remedy is compulsory. As a healthcare provider, I always ask my patients to consider how enthusiastic they are to follow a rigid, prescribed schedule while choosing a method of contraception.  The type of counseling that considers the health of the patient is considered to be invaluable counseling. (Visser & Ketting, 1994)