Subject:           Contraceptives:  Oral Contraceptives

 

Recommendations:

 

The following categories of oral contraceptives should be kept in stock:

 

1.               Triphasic combination pill

2.               Monophasic combination pill containing at least 20 mcg estrogen

3.               Monophasic combination pill containing 50 mcg estrogen

4.               Progestin only pill

 

For most postpartum patients, categories 1 and 2 should be utilized.  All patients should be counseled regarding proper use and contraindications for use of the birth control pill.

 

Patients should also be counseled that OCP’s do not protect against STDs.

 

Progestin only pills have received FDA approval for use during lactation.

 

Progestin only pills are suitable for women with a history of thrombosis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Clinical Care Guidelines Development Committee of the Perinatal Improvement Board of Duke University Health System has developed a series of multi-disciplinary protocols to offer guidance to health care providers who are caring for pregnant women with high risk conditions.

 

These protocols are designed to assist health care providers in the management of a variety of problems that occur in pregnancy and the time of delivery. They should not be interpreted as standard of care, but instead represent only general guidelines for the care of pregnant women with high risk conditions.  We recognize that services offered by individual providers depend not only on their training, experience and institutional resources, but on the medical facts and circumstances of the specific care situation.

The protocols remain the intellectual property of the Duke University Health System.  They cannot be reproduced in whole or part without the expressed permission of the Health System.

 

These protocols are reviewed by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the Department of Pediatrics Division of Neonatology and the Department of Anesthesiology Division of Women’s Anesthesia.  Please contact Andra H. James (andra.james@duke.edu), Chair, Clinical Care Guidelines Development Committee of the Perinatal Improvement Board with ideas for additional protocols.