Summary
The Long-acting Reversible Contraception: Health Practitioner Training Principles and Standards and the Long-acting Reversible Contraception: Principles and Standards for Trainers were produced as a part of the Contraceptive Access and Equity initiative to reduce the disparity of contraceptive access between people on high and low incomes, and to ensure high quality provision of contraception.
As part of this initiative the Ministry commissioned the development of new clinical guidance on contraception, a national contraception training programme, and now LARC training standards. The contraceptive guidance and LARC training standards provide guidance and tools to support best practice training and contraceptive care.
The first standards document the Long-acting Reversible Contraception: Health Practitioner Training Principles and Standards provides detailed descriptions of the competencies, and numbers of observed LARC procedures that health practitioners need to train to competence.
The second standards document the Long-acting Reversible Contraception: Principles and Standards for Trainers defines the standards, training and competencies required to become a LARC trainer.
The standards were developed by a clinical sub working group of the National Contraception Advisory Group comprised of general practitioners, nurses, Family Planning New Zealand, obstetricians and gynaecologists, Māori health, youth health, midwives, and DHBs.
Both the LARC training standards documents were endorsed by:
- the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP),
- Family Planning New Zealand
- the New Zealand College of Sexual and Reproductive Health,
- the Royal Australasian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists,
- the College of Nurses Aotearoa NZ, and
- the New Zealand College of Midwives.
The standards will support the safe, consistent, high-quality insertion and removal of LARC for all people across Aotearoa New Zealand.