Contraceptive care training for staff and clinicians

Training for your whole health care team is an essential component of partnering with Upstream. Our training includes a combination of e-learning modules, videos, live workshops, and an in-depth practicum for clinicians. These informative and fun blended-learning events are a highlight for many of our partners.

We deliver our CME/CEU-eligible training to providers of all types: hospitals, private practice groups, state and local health departments, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Planned Parenthood clinics, community agencies, tribal health centers, and more.

Patient-centered approach

Quality care begins with listening. This principle is the foundation of our training and underscores all that we do. All staff are trained on patient-centered counseling using a shared decision-making model. Our goal is to help patients make their own decisions, free from coercion. We conduct patient surveys at Upstream-trained health centers to assess whether patients feel they were in charge of choosing their own method, that they feel listened to by their providers and that they feel no pressure to choose one form of birth control over another.

Training Outcomes

After training, participants should be able to:

  • Describe the full range of contraceptive methods, associated screening requirements, and timing for initiation in order to provide medically accurate information to patients
  • Use patient-centered counseling and education skills
  • Support and assist patients in choosing their desired method of contraception, if any, and understand follow-up requirements in a shared decision-making framework

What you'll get

  • Up to 7.5 CME/CE contact hours
  • Flexible scheduling options
  • Connect and learn from healthcare professionals across the country

What to expect

Upstream Core Training consists of 6-8 hours of content developed by practicing clinicians and compliant with CDC, OPA, APP and ACOG contraceptive guidelines.

  • Self-paced E-learning: expertly designed courses give learners a strong foundation in providing medically accurate, patient-centered contraceptive care.
  • Live Group Sessions: Participants across health centers come together to practice and apply what they learned during the eLearning courses in a live and interactive virtual setting.
  • Clinical IUD Practicum: This 2-hour practicum gives clinicians the opportunity for hands-on practice placing all FDA-approved IUDs. Participants typically gather in person with support from an on-site health center champion and virtual Upstream facilitation.

Additional Training Options

Coaching Skills Training: Focused training on the principles and techniques of coaching — a peer-to-peer mentoring program to help participants develop and strengthen the counseling and education skills of their colleagues on-the-ground.

Immediate Postpartum Contraception: Training for clinicians or Registered Nurses working in Labor & Delivery and Postpartum wards. Curriculum focused on medical guidelines for postpartum contraception, contraceptive management, and a model for patient-centered contraceptive counseling. Training may also include an IUD practicum on postpartum IUD placement.

Contact our team to learn more

Knowledge scores for staff and providers improve post-training

Pre- and post-surveys following Upstream training show increases in clinician and staff knowledge on the Implant, IUD, and Depo-Provera injection and a range of other indicators.

Table shows large gains from pre- to post-survey in respondents’ average scores on a set of the Implant, IUD, and Depo-Provera injection-related knowledge items.  

Data represent group-level averages for attendees at over 30 Upstream trainings held in Delaware from mid-2017 to early 2019. Pre-survey data were collected up to 2 weeks before trainings, and post-survey data were collected immediately following trainings.    

Partner with us

Learn more about how a partnership with Upstream can benefit your practice.

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