Atenas Program: Pioneer Brazilian service of outpatient care by telemedicine for women with miscarriage or incomplete abortion

The criminalization of abortion and restricted access to misoprostol in Brazil force women toseek unsafe methods to terminate a pregnancy. Hospital care for miscarriage or abortion is standard. In contrast, telemedicine for the medical management of miscarriage and abortion is the gold standard of c...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Lima Bispo de Victa, Ana Gabriela, McCallum, Cecilia Anne, Menezes, Greice Maria de Souza
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:Brasil
Institución:Centro Brasileiro de Estudos de Saude
Repositorio:Saude em Debate
Idioma:portugués
inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.saudeemdebate.emnuvens.com.br:article/8414
Acceso en línea:https://www.saudeemdebate.org.br/sed/article/view/8414
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Aborto
Perda precoce da gravidez
Telemonitoramento
Misoprostol
Telemedicina
Abortion. Miscarriage. Telemonitoring. Misoprostol. Telemedicine.
Descripción
Sumario:The criminalization of abortion and restricted access to misoprostol in Brazil force women toseek unsafe methods to terminate a pregnancy. Hospital care for miscarriage or abortion is standard. In contrast, telemedicine for the medical management of miscarriage and abortion is the gold standard of care internationally. This article presents the Atenas Program ‒ an unprecedented initiative for first trimester abortion/miscarriage care, aiming at a humanized out-of-hospital service based on telephone monitoring by nurses, allowing women to choose the method of uterine evacuation (expectant, medical or surgical). For this purpose, ethnographic research was carried out in a northeastern public maternity hospital, between 2014 and 2021. In the context of structural and conjunctural difficulties, among the 723 Atenas participants, 73,6% dispensed with hospital admission for miscarriage and abortion resolution: 58,4% occurred spontane ously and 15,2% through hospital misoprostol. No complications were registered. Telephone monitoring by nurses provided the basis for continuity of individualized care for this invisibilized public. Atenas Program, initiative of a SUS institution run without external financial support, represents an advance in humanized care for women with miscarriage and abortion.