Perspectives of health care providers regarding the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system

Abstract

Objectives The aims of the study were to assess the number of insertions per month of the 52 mg levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) and gauge the knowledge and opinions of health care providers with regard to some of its characteristics and the reasons why women liked using the method. Methods An online questionnaire survey was conducted between January and July 2021 at the University of Campinas, Brazil. The survey comprised physicians and nurses from centres that had requested and received donated devices. Results A total of 65 health care providers answered the questionnaire (41 physicians and 24 nurses). The main misconceptions were related to insertion after an ectopic pregnancy: 60/65 (92.3%) answered that users with previous ectopic pregnancy must have frequent follow-up. Wrong answers were also given on the occurrence of acne (37/65, 56.9%) and depression (32/65, 49.2%). Participants reported that the LNG-IUS was highly effective (100%), long-acting (93.9%) and an appropriate method for controlling uterine bleeding (90.8%) and that it had few side effects (86.2%). Conclusion Our study suggests that health care providers from centres that requested and received LNG-IUS donations, even though they reported adequate knowledge about the device, still had misconceptions with regard to its clinical management.