On March 25th, Dr. Erin Hendriks, a Miscarriage Care Initiative (MCI) grantee, hosted an IUD training for medical students in Detroit, MI. Through the MCI program, Dr. Hendriks is not only expanding access to miscarriage care but also increasing access to contraception training.

The Miscarriage Care Initiative provided Dr. Hendriks a sophisticated uterine model that she has been using to train faculty, residents and health center staff in miscarriage care. She is also using the model to provide more in-depth training in other uterine procedures, like IUD insertion. This is a great example of RHAP’s overall approach to training. The skills needed to provide different forms of reproductive healthcare often overlap, so exposure to one procedure, such as IUD insertions, may lead a health care provider to want to offer other options, such as contraceptive implants. Just as women have different reproductive health needs over the course of a lifetime, when healthcare providers are exposed to more reproductive health training they often become more invested in providing full-spectrum reproductive healthcare to their patients.

Dr. Hendriks had several residents from her family medicine residency program assist with the IUD workshop. Dr. Jonathan King,  a second year resident, showed medical students how to practice inserting IUDs on small plastic models of the uterus. While the medical students will not get hands-on IUD training for a few years, Dr. King is currently learning how to insert IUDs with patients. “It’s been going well, I’m feeling more confident,” he explained. Dr. King said he enjoys being able to expand his reproductive health skills during residency and hopes to continue providing IUDs after graduation.