College Guidance on Annual Women's Health Care

The College offers official guidance on topics such as screening, counseling, contraception, preconception, adolescent health care, immunizations, and sexually transmitted infections.

The third edition of Guidelines for Women's Health Care is a concise resource encompassing the full spectrum of policy and management issues relating to women’s health care. This book draws extensively on recommendations from the College’s Committee Opinions, Practice Bulletins, and Policy Statements as well as guidelines from other governmental and professional organizations, providing a digest of relevant information as well as extensive resource listings for both patients and health professionals.

Well Woman Care/Screening

• Committee Opinion #534, Well-Woman Visit
• Committee Opinion #482, Colonoscopy and Colorectal Cancer Screening Strategies
• Committee Opinion #477, The Role of the Obstetrician-Gynecologist in the Early Detection of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer
• Committee Opinion #467, Human Papillomavirus Vaccination
• Committee Opinion #363, Patient Testing: Ethical Issues in Selection and Counseling
• Practice Bulletin #131, Cervical Cytology Screening
• Practice Bulletin #129, Osteoporosis
• Practice Bulletin # 122, Breast Cancer Screening
• Practice Bulletin #99, Management of Abnormal Cervical Cytology and Histology

Counseling

• Committee Opinion #538, Nonmedical Use of Prescription Drugs
• Committee Opinion #518, Intimate Partner Violence
• Committee Opinion #503, Tobacco Use and Women's Health
• Committee Opinion #496, At-Risk Drinking and Alcohol Dependence - Obstetric and Gynecologic Implications
• Committee Opinion #478, Family History as a Risk Assessment Tool
  Committee Opinion #423, Motivational Interviewing: A Tool for Behavior Change 
• Committee Opinion #422, At-Risk Drinking and Illicit Drug Use: Ethical Issues in Obstetric and Gynecologic Practice
• Committee Opinion #532, Compounded Bioidentical Menopausal Hormone Therapy 
• Practice Bulletin #119, Female Sexual Dysfunction
• Practice Bulletin #103, Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome

Adolescents

• Committee Opinion #539, Adolescents and Long-Acting Reversible Contraception: Implants and Intrauterine Devices
• Committee Opinion #463, Cervical Cancer in Adolescents: Screening, Evaluation, and Management
• Committee Opinion #460, The Initial Reproductive Health Visit
• Committee Opinion #415, Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate and Bone Effects
• Committee Opinion #392, Intrauterine Device and Adolescents
• Committee Opinion #349, Menstruation in Girls and Adolescents: Using the Menstrual Cycle as a Vital Sign

Contraception

• Committee Opinion #539, Adolescents and Long-Acting Reversible Contraception: Implants and Intrauterine Devices
• Committee Opinion #530, Access to Postpartum Sterilization
• Committee Opinion #505, Understanding and Using the US Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use 2010
• Committee Opinion #458, Use of Hysterosalpingography After Tubal Sterilization
• Committee Opinion #450, Increasing Use of Contraceptive Implants and Intrauterine Devices To Reduce Unintended Pregnancy
• Committee Opinion #375, Brand Versus Generic Oral Contraceptives
• Committee Opinion #371, Sterilization of Women, Including Those With Mental Disabilities
• Practice Bulletin #121, Long-Acting Reversible Contraception: Implants and Intrauterine Devices
• Practice Bulletin #112, Emergency Contraception
• Practice Bulletin #73, Use of Hormonal Contraception in Women With Coexisting Medical Conditions
• Practice Bulletin #46, Benefits and Risks of Sterilization

Preconception

• Committee Opinion #313, The Importance of Preconception Care in the Continuum of Women's Health Care

Sexually Transmitted Infections 

• Committee Opinion #536, Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome and Women of Color
• Committee Opinion #506, Expedited Partner Therapy in the Management of Gonorrhea and Chlamydia by Obstetricians-Gynecologists
• Committee Opinion #417, Addressing Health Risks of Noncoital Sexual Activity
• Committee Opinion #411, Routine Human Immunodeficiency Virus Screening
• Committee Opinion #389, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
• Practice Bulletin #57, Gynecologic Herpes Simplex Virus Infections

Other College Resources

Immunization for Women
An American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists site providing ob-gyns and their patients with a central, trusted source of up-to-date information on seasonal flu and other vaccine-preventable diseases, including immunization facts and safety, immunization schedules, clinical and practice management guidelines, and links to other reliable immunization resources.

Patient Education FAQs
More than 100 subjects covered in layman's language for patients. Spanish versions also available.

Developed by the College's Committee on Adolescent Health Care, the Adolescent Health Care Resource Guides assist health professionals in helping patients and their families to understand topics such as violence, sexuality, and alchol and tobacco use more completely.

Resources developed by the College's Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women:

• Family Planning Resource Guide
• Nutrition and Physical Activity to Address Overweight and Obesity Resource Guide
• Abortion Resource Guide
• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Resource Guide
• Sexually Transmitted Infections Resource Guide
• Patient Education Safety Cards on Violence (developed with Futures Without Violence)