Table 3. Clinical and service parameters for safe medication abortion and MVA procedures (% unless otherwise indicated).
| Site 1 (n = 432) | Site 2 (n = 537) | Site 3 (n = 160) | All sites (n = 1,129) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intake visit | ||||||||
| Urine-based pregnancy test* | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 47.6 | ||||
| Ultrasound for dating | 96.7 | 32.7 | 89.7 | 65.3 | ||||
| Blood pressure and temperature | 3.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 48.8 | ||||
| Hemoglobin test* | 10.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 | ||||
| Syphilis test* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||||
| Rhesus test* | 100.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 52.4 | ||||
| Follow-up visit (MA clients only) | ||||||||
| Hemoglobin test* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 14.2 | ||||
| Ultrasound to assess completion | 3.1 | 1.1 | 2.9 | 2.1 | ||||
| Medications | ||||||||
| Iron tablets provided** | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 47.6 | ||||
| Rho(D) immune globulin*, *** | 15.0 | 0.0 | 15.0 | 7.9 | ||||
| Antibiotics for STI symptoms*, *** | 14.9 | 40.0 | 11.9 | 26.8 | ||||
| MA | MVA | MA | MVA | MA | MVA | MA | MVA | |
| Extra misoprostol*, **** | 1.2 | 10.0 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 10.0 | 0.6 | 5.9 |
| Oral analgesics (paracetamol and/or NSAID) | 1.9 | 100.0 | 1.9 | 100.0 | 23.2 | 0.0 | 4.9 | 85.8 |
| IM analgesic injection pre-procedure (NSAID) | N/A | 100.0 | N/A | 0.6 | N/A | 100.0 | N/A | 52.7 |
| Prophylactic antibiotics* | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 60.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 28.5 |
MA = medication abortion, MVA = manual vacuum aspiration, N/A = Not applicable, IM = intramuscular, NSAID = nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
* Rates are as reported by the facility nurses.
** At one site, tablets were given routinely to all women post-abortion (regardless of hemoglobin levels).
*** The nurses at sites 1 and 3 reported providing treatment when indicated. However, the prevalence of Rhesus negativity and STI symptoms were unknown, so prevalence data was sourced from published literature [23,24].
**** For MA = given extra misoprostol (on average 5.25 x 200 micrograms) at an unscheduled visit due to suspected MA failure, told to return for follow-up. For MVA = given more misoprostol for dilation in the morning prior to the MVA procedure.