Fast access to ellaOne® after UPSI is important. When women come to your pharmacy seeking emergency contraception it is essential that your team know how to respond, so that women get the help they need to avoid unintended pregnancy.
Your team should know:
- Your pharmacy offers EHC
- Whether women requesting EHC must be referred to a pharmacist or if it can be dispensed by any team member
- Your aim is to offer women EHC in a reassuring way
In training sessions you could develop more examples or role-play the scenarios to build the team’s confidence so they can deal with requests for emergency contraception smoothly.
You can encourage your team to make the process of obtaining ellaOne® as least embarrassing as possible. They should recognise that this may be an emotional time for the woman. In a large EU survey, 50% of women said they found seeking EC embarrassing,1 so a welcoming, professional approach is appropriate. Other women may ask for EC in a way that may make you or your team members feel uncomfortable, maybe by providing too many intimate details or having a loud or brazen manner. Exploring ways to deal with this can also form part of a training role-play.
