Routine Screening for Pregnancy Intention to Address Unmet Reproductive Health Needs in Two Urban Federally Qualified Health Centers

Objective. The goal of this project was to increase rates of screening for pregnancy intention in primary care. Methods. Two urban federally qualified health centers with diverse patient populations undertook a quality improvement project to increase rates of routine screening for pregnancy intention among pre-menopausal non-pregnant women ages 12–45 without history of sterilization. Responses were recorded in the electronic medical record (EMR). Results. Screening rates of eligible women increased from 0% to 68.3% and from 49.0% to 80.3% at Sites 1 and 2, respectively. Adolescents were screened at lower rates than adults (p < .0001). There was no significant difference in screening rates between English and non-English speaking patients. Project challenges included cultural relevance to certain patient groups, staff turnover, and time for follow-up counseling. Conclusions. Implementation of routine pregnancy intention screening is important to address unmet reproductive health needs, and can be successfully implemented through an EMR regardless of primary language.