A Recent Survey Uncovered that Doctors in the US do not Discuss IUDs as a Birth Control Option for Patients

A national survey of family physicians conducted by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, have found that family physicians do not feel comfortable talking to patients about IUDs. It was found that many of these doctors are lacking the knowledge to discuss this form of birth control with their patients and the doctors often feel that their patients would not be receptive to talking about IUDs. Perhaps because an IUD is inserted in the office and the doctor nor the patient are comfortable with a family doctor performing the procedure over the GYN/OB doctor.

The Survey Results

"IUDs only account for 5 percent of contraception used by women in the U.S., compared with approximately 15 percent worldwide," noted Susan Rubin, M.D., assistant professor of family and social medicine at Einstein and the paper's lead author. "While we acknowledge that a number of factors contribute to the low utilization of IUDs in the U.S., our study set out to determine what factors differentiate those family physicians who insert IUDs in their clinical practice versus those who don't."

What Should Women who want an IUD do.

Both doctors who inserter and non-inserters of an IUD were found to have a positive attitude toward IUD safety and efficacy. However, 96 percent of the doctors who do the inserters said they felt comfortable discussing IUD use with their patients. Therefore, if a woman would like an IUD she should bring up the topic with her family doctor or her GYN/OB doctor.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110112110741.htm