A Pre-Post Study Evaluating a Novel Abortion Training Program for Physicians and Advanced Practice Clinicians

Abstract A Pre-Post Study Evaluating a Novel Abortion Training Program for Physicians and Advanced Practice Clinicians Background: The University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) Maryland Abortion Reproductive Clinical Health (MARCH) abortion training program is one of few interdisciplinary abortion training programs in the United States aimed at increasing clinician abortion provision preparedness, with a focus on advanced practice clinicians and primary care providers. The goal of our study was to assess MARCH program clinician fellows’ confidence and competence in providing high-quality, patient centered reproductive healthcare before and after our training program. Methods: We conducted a pre-, post-educational evaluation program from August 2024-March 2026 to assess changes in learner self-reported confidence and competence related to abortion care. We electronically surveyed participantspre-training, and immediately post-training and 6 months post training. We used descriptive statistics to summarize participant characteristics and survey responses. We compared confidence and competence scores using the Mann-Whitney U test as the dependent variables were nonparametric. We set statistical significance at p < 0.05. Results: We enrolled 94 participants across 10 training cohorts into the MARCH Program, with 71 participants who consented to research. APCs comprised 94% (n = 67) of participants, including Certified Nurse Midwives, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Associates. Physicians represented 6% (n = 4) of the sample. Immediately post-training, we found statistically significant improvements in learner confidence and competence across all domains central to patient care, communication, and ethical practice following participation in the MARCH program ( p <0.01). We found learner self-reported improvements were sustained at 6-months post training. Conclusions: Our abortion training program resulted in statistically significant improvement in all domains relating to participant self-reported confidence and competence and clinical skills to deliver high-quality abortion and comprehensive reproductive health care.