Kenneth J. Ryan Residency Training Program in Abortion and Family Planning
Background
The Kenneth J. Ryan Residency
Training Program
in Abortion and Family Planning is a
national program coordinated from
the Bixby Center at the
University of California, San Francisco. The
program was
founded in 1999 with the goal of formally integrating and
enhancing
family planning training for residents in obstetrics and
gynecology.
It strives to create academic settings for didactic
education,
clinical training, and research.
Mission
The
mission of
the Ryan Program is to increase and strengthen training
opportunities
in abortion and contraception for residents in obstetrics
and
gynecology and to encourage and support residents’
exposure to
evidence-based clinical care and research in the field of
family
planning.
Objectives
The program has
three major
objectives:
- To establish training opportunities for residents through outpatient pregnancy termination services in teaching hospitals or through collaborative community partners;
- To establish formally integrated opt-out rotations for residents; and
- To promote the sustainability of the program at each site beyond the initial funding period.
Activities
The program provides funding and technical
expertise
to help ob-gyn residency programs establish or expand
hospital-based
abortion services. In cases where an in-house service is
not
feasible, the program also facilitates collaboration with a
free-standing
abortion provider, such as Planned Parenthood. Ryan
Program grantees
have access to the Ryan Didactic Curriculum, an online
curriculum
for residents, containing six modules on family planning
topics. We
offer workshops for interested and new departments of
obstetrics and
gynecology on how to build a Ryan Program, and we hold
annual Ryan
Program meetings for key program staff to discuss program
development
and sustainability.
Established
Programs
As
of July 2010, we have
established 58 programs in 28 U.S. states, two
programs in Canada, and one in Puerto Rico.
For more information about the Ryan Program, please visit our webpage www.ryanprogram.org or email info@ryanprogram.org.