The Refugee Health Unit and Dunya Women’s Health Collaborative (International Rescue Committee, United Women of East Africa, SDSU Institute for Public Health, Family Health Centers of San Diego, and Nile Sisters Development Initiative) worked together with healthcare providers from various institutions to debut a Female Genital Cutting (FGC) Continuing Medical Education (CME) online training course. It was developed as an additional resource for providers to learn about FGC outside of the successful FGC provider training event held at Scripps Mercy Hospital. The goal is to spread awareness to healthcare providers on the practice of FGC and to serve as a guide for culturally competent clinician-patient interactions, so that providers may be prepared when they encounter patients who have experienced FGC. This course was created with the concerted efforts of the Family Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD), Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON), Arizona State University (ASU), UC San Diego Refugee Health Unit, Dunya Women’s Health Collaborative, and funding through a grant by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health (OASH) and Office of Women’s Health (OWH).
The seven module, 45-minute online course aims to provide easily accessible training curriculum to healthcare providers so that they may learn more about FGC and its clinical implications. At the conclusion of the course, participants will have covered topics including:
- the history, sociocultural context, epidemiology, classification schema of FGC on women and/or girls
- the physical impact, short- and long-term morbidity, of FGC
- the gynecological, obstetric, psychological, and psychosexual outcomes of FGC
- best screening methods and usage of culturally-appropriate discussions for FGC-affected patients
- legal and ethical implications in screening and caring for FGC affected populations
The majority of the information distributed throughout the training curriculum was provided by healthcare providers including Kristin Brownell MD, MPH (FHCSD), Crista Johnson-Agbakwu MD, MSc, FACOG (ASU), Khawla Suleiman-Qafiti MD, MAS, FAAP (FHCSD), Nicole Warren PhD, MPH, CNM, FAAN (JHUSON), and Sierra Washington MD, MSc, FACOG (UC San Diego).
This online training is available at no cost on CMECalifornia.com, a collaborative project of the five University of California medical schools.
The University of California San Diego School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The University of California San Diego School of Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 0.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Credit is also available for nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and additional healthcare providers. Please see the program website for additional accreditation information.
For further questions or collaboration inquiries, please contact the Refugee Health Unit.