Browsing by Author "Scott, Nicole P."

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    "I'm supposed to be a helper": Spiritual distress of abortion providers after the Dobbs decision
    (Elsevier, 2025-02-22) Bode, Leah M.; Kumar, Komal A.; McQuillan, Josie C.; Scott, Nicole P.; Bernard, Caitlin; Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine
    Background: The Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision has undoubtably affected the practice of abortion providers nationally. We hypothesized that Dobbs has also impacted the ways in which providers experience meaning and purpose through their work, which are elements of spirituality. Objective: We sought to describe the spectrum of spirituality of abortion providers and understand whether and how the Dobbs decision caused spiritual distress. Study design: For this qualitative study, we conducted video interviews with 26 abortion providers from 17 states between November 2022 and February 2023. States were classified according to the Guttmacher Institute classifications from most restrictive to very protective as of December 2022. Interviews included questions such as, "Can you describe your own sense of spirituality or spiritual identity?" and "How does your spiritual belief inform your response to the Dobbs decision?" Results: Participants' states of practice were well-distributed across the abortion restrictive-protective spectrum. The majority of participants were spiritual, while less than half identified as part of an organized religion. Many participants felt a spiritual call or obligation to provide abortion care and 46% described abortion as a spiritual act for provider and/or patient. Most participants experienced spiritual distress (74%), including those practicing in states across the restrictive-protective spectrum. Of note, 92% of participants described their spirituality as helpful in coping with the effects of the fall of Roe v. Wade. Sources of strength included advocacy, agency, legislative work, and community; over half specifically cited the abortion provider community. Conclusions: The Dobbs decision-and subsequent state-level abortion restrictions-impacts abortion providers by causing spiritual distress. While many abortion-restrictive laws are influenced by religious or spiritual beliefs, it is important to recognize that abortion providers are also spiritual individuals.
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    Impact of an Online Question Bank on Resident In-Training Exam Performance
    (Sage, 2023-10-09) Scott, Nicole P.; Martin, Terrell W.; Schmidt, Alison M.; Shanks, Anthony L.; Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine
    OBJECTIVE In-training exams (ITEs) are administered annually to Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBGYN) residents and have been demonstrated to correlate with success on licensing examinations. Our study objective was to determine the impact of a question bank and mock exam on the performance of Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology (CREOG) ITEs. Secondarily, we investigated the correlation between the extent of question bank usage and performance on the exam. METHODS Pre–post intervention study of resident performance on CREOG ITE before and after implementation of the question bank and mock ITE at Indiana University in 2018. Performance was measured as year-to-year improvement in percent correct on ITE exams. Scores were excluded if a resident did not have a prequestion bank score report or if they did not sit for all eligible ITE exams. RESULTS There were 51 OBGYN residents at Indiana University during the study period, with 38 available for analysis (75%). Before implementation, average year-to-year improvement for PGY1-2, PGY2-3 and PGY3-4 classes were 0.60%, 1.0% and −1.6%, respectively. After implementation, all resident classes had significant improvements in ITE scores of 6.6% (P < .01), 9.0% (P < .01), and 7.2% (P < .01), respectively. There was a moderate program-wide correlation between the number of questions completed and the percent improvement on the ITE of R = 0.36 (P = .046). CONCLUSIONS Our study demonstrated that access to a question bank and mock ITE significantly improved CREOG ITE performance of OBGYN residents at Indiana University.
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    Impact of the Dobbs Decision on Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Applications – an Exploratory Survey
    (The European Society of Medicine, 2025-04-30) Conklin, Alissa M.; Rone, Victoria; Arrocha, Diana; Scott, Nicole P.; Peipert, Jeffrey F.; Shanks, Anthony L.
    Objective: To evaluate the early impact of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision on Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBGYN) residency applications by analyzing changes in applicant behavior, including application numbers and signal allocation, based on abortion law categories, program prestige, geographic region, and the availability of family planning fellowships. Study Design: This cross-sectional survey assessed 61 medium-to-large OBGYN residency programs to examine application trends before and after the Dobbs decision. Data were collected on residency applications for the 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 application cycles, the number of gold and silver signals received in the 2022 Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) cycle, program prestige (US News & World Report and Doximity rankings), geographic region (Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-defined), and the presence of a family planning fellowship or Ryan Program affiliation. Descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze differences in application numbers and signal allocation. Results: Across all abortion law categories, applications declined from the 2021–2022 to the 2022–2023 cycle (mean: 895.9 vs. 856.7, p = 0.02), with the largest decrease in states with abortion restrictions (-7.58%). Programs in states with abortion protections received significantly more gold (p = 0.04) and silver signals (p < 0.001) than those in restrictive states. Programs offering family planning fellowships and those affiliated with the Ryan Program also received more signals (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Programs in abortion-restrictive states received fewer applications and signals, suggesting applicants prioritize abortion training access. These trends may impact the geographic distribution of OBGYNs and reproductive healthcare availability. Implications: Declining applications to restrictive states may exacerbate maternity care shortages. Further research is needed to assess long-term effects on workforce retention and training.
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    Resident Research Mentoring Teams: A Support Program to Increase Resident Research Productivity
    (Allen Press, 2023) Haas, David M.; Hadaie, Bachar; Ramirez, Mirian; Shanks, Anthony L.; Scott, Nicole P.; Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine
    Background: Scholarly activity is a requirement for most graduate medical education training programs. However, barriers exist for residents to accomplish projects. Objective: To evaluate the correlation between a resident research mentoring team (RRMT) program and meeting presentations and publications of resident research projects. We further plan to report feasibility of the RRMT. Methods: We performed a before-and-after study of meeting presentations and/or publication of resident research projects before institution of the RRMT (2004-2011) and post-RRMT implementation (2016-2019). The RRMT is a diverse group of faculty, statisticians, and research staff who meet regularly with residents to provide guidance for their research studies. It is part of overall research support from the department, which also includes biostatistics, database and regulatory help, travel funds, and project budget funds. Data on meeting presentations and publications were collected from Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and the IUPUI ScholarWorks institutional repository, using resident and faculty names and titles of projects. Comparisons of pre- and post-RRMT groups were made. Results: Seventy-four residents were in the pre-RRMT group and 40 were in the post-RRMT group. Post-RRMT residents published, presented, and combined published or presented their projects more frequently than those in pre-RRMT group (57.5% vs 28.4%, P=.002; 50% vs 16.2%, P=.001; 67.5% vs 37.8%, P=.002). Controlling for winning a Research Day award and pursuing a fellowship, being in the post-RRMT group was independently associated with presentation or publication of the resident research project (OR 3.62, 95% CI 1.57-8.83). Conclusions: Support of resident scholarly activity, such as thorough implementation of a program like the RRMT, is associated with increased presentations and publications of research projects.
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    A review of post-caesarean infectious morbidity: how to prevent and treat
    (Taylor & Francis, 2018) Pierson, Rebecca C.; Scott, Nicole P.; Briscoe, Kristin E.; Haas, David M.; Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine
    Post-caesarean infectious complications result in significant maternal morbidity and mortality as well as increased readmissions and increased health care cost worldwide. This review provides a discussion of several risk factors that have been identified which predispose women to post-surgical infection. We also provide an overview of strategies for infection prevention including antibiotics, surgical techniques and negative pressure wound therapy. Criteria for diagnosis of wound infection are provided, as well as appropriate treatment regimens. Given the impact of maternal post caesarean infection, it is important for women’s health care providers to understand how to prevent these infections, as well as recognise and treat them.