The First National Summit on Women's Health: The Future of Obstetrics and Gynecology Training.

Objective: To identify the current challenges in obstetrics and gynecology residency education and propose solutions to overcome these obstacles.

Methods: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) hosted the first National Summit on Women's Health on May 31 and June 1, 2017, with a follow-up meeting December 20-21, 2017, at ACOG headquarters in Washington, DC. Invitees from 20 related societies briefly presented their organizations' perspectives and discussed focused questions about specific challenges, proposed solutions, and anticipated obstacles.

New Models of Care.

The practice of obstetrics and gynecology continues to evolve. Changes in the obstetrician-gynecologists workforce, reimbursement, governmental regulations, and technology all drive new models of care. The advent of the obstetric hospitalist is one new model, and the development of team-based care is another.

Firearm-related injury and death in the United States: a call to action from 8 health professional organizations and the American Bar Association.

Deaths and injuries related to firearms constitute a major public health problem in the United States. In response to firearm violence and other firearm-related injuries and deaths, an interdisciplinary, interprofessional group of leaders of 8 national health professional organizations and the American Bar Association, representing the official policy positions of their organizations, advocate a series of measures aimed at reducing the health and public health consequences of firearms. The specific recommendations include universal background checks of gun purchasers, elimination of physician "gag laws," restricting the manufacture and sale of military-style assault weapons and large-capacity magazines for civilian use, and research to support strategies for reducing firearm-related injuries and deaths.

The evolution of cervical screening and the specialty of obstetrics and gynecology.

The American Cancer Society, the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, and the American Society of Clinical Pathologists have released revised consensus recommendations for cervical cancer screening. These new recommendations integrate molecular testing and include significant changes in screening, particularly in women from 30 to 65 years of age without complications who now may be screened every 5 years by co-testing with cervical cytology and high-risk human papillomavirus testing and women 21-29 years who may be screened with cervical cytology alone every 3 years. The revised recommendations include clarification on when to start and stop screening and management of women who have undergone hysterectomy.

Academic workforce trends in community hospitals.

Introduction: Obstetrician-gynecologist faculty workforce studies have been limited to faculty at university training programs. Not much is known about the obstetrician-gynecologist faculty workforce at community programs.

Method: This study assessed the obstetrician-gynecologist faculty workforce in community training programs via administering surveys to the department chairs.

Executive summary of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Presidential Task Force on Patient Safety in the Office Setting: reinvigorating safety in office-based gynecologic surgery.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Presidential Task Force on Patient Safety in the Office Setting was convened to identify patient safety concerns, develop tools, and provide guidance for physicians performing invasive surgical procedures in the office setting. Physicians who serve as office medical directors have a myriad of responsibilities related to clinical and patient safety, including evaluating staff competency, encouraging office team communication, promoting patient partnership, and ensuring safety in the use of analgesia or anesthesia. Activities and tools used in the inpatient setting, such as multidisciplinary team meetings, checklists, time-outs, mock emergency drills, and measurement and reporting systems, can easily be tailored and applied to any office practice.

Surgeon General's Conference on the Prevention of Preterm Birth.

To address the serious and seemingly intractable problem of preterm birth, the Surgeon General's Conference on the Prevention of Preterm Birth convened many of the country's experts from the public and private sectors of research, public health, and health care delivery to discuss preventive strategies. The purpose of the conference was to increase awareness of preterm birth in the United States, review key findings and reports issued by experts in the field, and establish an agenda for activities in both the public and private sectors to mitigate the problem. The six work groups created focused on biomedical research, epidemiological research, psychosocial and behavioral factors in preterm birth, professional education and training, outreach and communication, and quality of care and health services.

The impact of residents' work-hour restrictions.

Graduate medical education continues to deal with multiple stressors. The new work-hour regulations only add to the program directors' and department chairs' difficulty of ensuring adequate educational, didactic, and clinical training for the residents. Appropriately, patient safety has been a concern in the discussion pertaining to resident work hours.

Behavioral health care integration in obstetrics and gynecology.

Depression, anxiety, and somatoform disorders are 2 to 3 times more prevalent in women than in men. Since the advent of managed care and other pressures on the healthcare delivery system in the United States, there has been a notable diminishment of services and service funding for treatment of mental health conditions, whether they are temporary, transitional, or chronic. As a result of this trend, we have seen an increase in the number of patients seeking help for emotional and mental health concerns from their family doctors or, in the case of women, from their obstetrician-gynecologists.

Papanicolaou and thin-layer cervical cytology with colposcopic biopsy control. A comparison.

Objective: To compare the accuracy of conventional Papanicolaou and fluid-based, thin-layer cervical cytology.

Study Design: Cervical cytology was performed in duplicate on women who presented for cervical screening. Papanicolaou and thin-layer (ThinPrep, Cytyc Corp.