Background and objectives: The Nationwide Children's Hospital's (NCH) Pediatric Vital Signs (PVS) Initiative launched in May 2018 when the teenage birth rate in Franklin County was 20.9 per 1000 female adolescents in 2017. The aim of the PVS Preventing Unintended Teenage Pregnancy initiative was to leverage internal strengths and collaborations with community partners to accelerate the decline in the teenage birth rate in Franklin County using evidence-based programming, community engagement, and quality improvement science.
Methods: We researched evidence-based interventions to reduce unintended teenage pregnancy and engaged community partners. NCH launched the Contraceptive Access Quality Improvement Collaborative (CAC) to increase the use of prescription contraceptives among female adolescent patients. The School Health Education Partnership focused on developing and promoting comprehensive sexual health education in community schools. Additional community collaborations and interventions activities supported the PVS aim for 5 years.
Results: The teenage birth rate in Franklin County declined significantly between 2018 and 2022. The CAC achieved a statistically significant increase in the proportion of female adolescents seen at NCH who are prescribed contraceptives. Sexual health education programming has been implemented in 20 community middle schools since 2019.
Conclusions: An interdisciplinary team using a quality improvement framework, in collaboration with numerous community partners, engaged in diverse evidence-based programmatic activities to reduce the teenage birth rate in Franklin County, Ohio.
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