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ABSTRACT
Emergency contraception (EC) in Serbia is available in two products: Levonorgestel, which has nonprescription status, and Ulipristal acetate, which is a prescription-only medicine. Considering their dispensing statuses, gynecologists and pharmacists are health care professionals (HCPs) with the widest impact on EC use. Yet little is known about their beliefs and practices regarding these medicines. We surveyed 166 gynecologists (during October 2012—October 2013) and 452 community pharmacists (during January–April 2014). Results showed significant differences between these two groups, suggesting that provision of EC to users may be inconsistent. Gynecologists were more convinced than pharmacists that EC would reduce the abortion rate (86% versus 53%, p < .001). However, they were more concerned than pharmacists that easy access to EC would cause less regular contraceptive use (66% versus 29%, p < .001) and risky sexual behaviors, including initiating sexual activity at a younger age (37% versus 19%, p < .001) and having more sexual partners (33% versus 12%, p < .001). Additionally, more pharmacists than gynecologists (12% versus 2%, p < .001) said they would not provide EC to anyone under any circumstance, even to victims of sexual assault. These results indicated a need for reevaluating and establishing official guidelines for dispensing practices.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank those gynecologists and pharmacists who participated in our studies. The contribution of Dr. Steve Quarrie, who revised the manuscript for English language and grammar, is gratefully acknowledged. J. Milosavljevic is an employee of Bayer d.o.o. Dr. Mitrovic-Jovanovic gave lectures supported by Bayer d.o.o. and Richter Gedeon Nyrt. The remaining authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and the writing of the article.
Funding
The research of D. Krajnovic was partially supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia (project no. 41004).