Assessment of pregnancy intentions in emergency department patients with pregnancy of unknown location

Emergency department (ED) clinicians frequently evaluate patients with early pregnancies, including pregnancies of unknown location (PUL). Flynn et al1 established a PUL management framework prioritising pregnancy intentions, distinguishing between ‘expedient active management’ for undesired pregnancies and ‘careful conservative management’ for patients with desired pregnancies or uncertain intentions.1 This patient-centred approach minimises risks of potential ectopic pregnancies and prioritises patient autonomy.2 3 Despite the importance of pregnancy intentions in PUL management, we lack data on how often these intentions are assessed in emergency settings, where 8.6% of reproductive-capable patients are pregnant.4 Our study aimed to address this gap by investigating how often ED clinicians assess pregnancy intentions.

We conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional study examining records of patients who presented to the ED of a large, academic hospital in California from January 2020 to December 2021. We included patients with a positive pregnancy…

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