Background-Certain medications are identified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as class D or X because they increase the risk for birth defects if used during pregnancy.

Objective Nurse practitioners (NPs) provide frontline care in women’s health, including contraception, an essential preventive service. Their importance for contraceptive care will grow, with healthcare reforms focused on affordable primary care. This study assessed practice and training needs to prepare NPs to offer high-efficacy contraceptives - IUDs and implants. Method A US nationally representative sample of nurse practitioners in primary care and women’s health was surveyed in 2009 (response rate 69%, n=586) to assess clinician knowledge and practices, guided by the CDC US Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use. Results Two-thirds of women’s health NPs (66%) were trained in IUD insertions, compared to 12% of primary care NPs. Contraceptive counseling that routinely included IUDs was low overall (43%). Nurse practitioners used overly restrictive patient eligibility criteria, inconsistent with CDC guidelines. Insertion training (aOR=2.4, 95%CI: 1.10 5.33) and knowledge of patient eligibility (aOR=2.9, 95%CI: 1.91 4.32) were associated with IUD provision. Contraceptive implant provision was low: 42% of NPs in women’s health and 10% in primary care . Half of NPs desired training in these methods. Conclusion Nurse practitioners have an increasingly important position in addressing high unintended pregnancy in the U.S., but require specific training in long-acting reversible contraceptives.

Gastric intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia are significant predictors for gastric adenocarcinoma. The low risk for malignancy associated with intestinal metaplasia does not support routine endoscopic surveillance. However, surveillance should be considered in patients at higher risks, including those with suspicious endoscopic features, presence of dysplasia, and Hispanic race/ethnicity.

The risk of PID in women receiving IUDs was low. These results support IUD insertion protocols in which clinicians test women for N gonorrhea and C trachomatis based on risk factors and perform the test on the day of insertion. These findings have potential to reduce barriers to IUD use for women seeking highly effective, long-term, reversible contraception.