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The scale, designed to measure students' self-assessment of their confidence in 11 competency domains before and after participating in global placements, was found to be reliable and correlated well with an earlier validated scale.
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Trained clinical officers—nonphysicians with 3 years of specialized training—conducted the procedure safely and effectively compared with procedures performed by more advanced assistant medical officers. This evidence supports policy change allowing properly trained and supported clinical officers to perform minilaparotomy.
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Exposure to family planning messages from religious leaders was significantly associated with higher modern contraceptive use, after accounting for background characteristics and other variables such as myths and misconceptions. Engaging religious leaders to support positive social norms is an important strategy to improving voluntary contraceptive use in Nigeria.
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The revised neonatal resuscitation curriculum updates not only the science of resuscitation but also the educational and implementation approaches needed to further enhance neonatal survival, including promoting ongoing practice to retain skills and linkages with quality improvement initiatives.
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In the 10 countries surveyed, the availability of oral contraceptives, injectables, and condoms varied greatly, and the availability of basic items indicating service readiness, such as guidelines, trained staff, equipment, and certain commodities, was low.
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The NPS measures a customer's likeliness to recommend a company to a friend or colleague on a 0-to-10 scale. Pilot testing in 4 countries suggests the NPS can also be successfully used in nonprofit clinics and among low-literacy populations. Combining the NPS with client demographic and service-use data can provide a powerful tool for identifying populations for whom the client experience can be improved.
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Evaluation of the campaign confirmed its feasibility in this setting: it achieved high coverage, few adverse events, and mostly positive media coverage. However, challenges occurred in data and cold chain management. Future implementation requires improved partnerships between government ministries, simplified informed consent, and closer monitoring of social media messaging.
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The combined intervention of free contraceptives plus a set of quality inputs for family planning during the extended perinatal period, including provision of long-acting methods immediately postpartum, had the strongest effect on use of modern contraceptives, especially long-acting methods.
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In this pilot introduction setting, trained providers reported higher acceptance and preference for the dedicated inserter compared with the conventional postpartum insertion with forceps, suggesting potential for the dedicated inserter to expand access to postpartum IUDs.
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Analysis of program data and a formative assessment informed several program changes, including improved coaching and supportive supervision, introduction of postpartum IUDs and the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system, and enhanced behavior change communication. These changes substantially increased family planning adoption, from a monthly average of 14 adopters per facility to 37 per facility. Implants continued to be the most popular method, but the percentage of adopters choosing the IUD increased from 2% in 2012 to 13% in 2016, and it was the most popular method among postabortion care clients.