FAMILY MEDICINE AND ADVANCED LIFE SUPPORT IN OBSTETRICS (ALSO) IN ECUADOR

• Introduction and Objective Family medicine first became a specialty with residencies in 1968. Family medicine was first introduced to Ecuador in 1987. This was one for the first countries in Latin America to have formal family medicine residencies. The American Academy of Family Physician’s Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) is a two-day emergency obstetrics course which was developed in 1991 and introduced to Ecuador in 2003. Ecuador was one of the first countries in Latin America to teach ALSO and has been a leader in the dissemination of the ALSO course throughout Ecuador and Latin America. In 2015, Ecuador underwent a program to retrain general physicians (GPs) throughout the country as family physicians. Taking the ALSO course was part of this training. This may serve as a model for teaching GPs to attend deliveries and meet the need for skilled birth attendants throughout the world. • Methods The number of GPs retrained as FPs and the number of GPs who took the ALSO course has been tracked. The number of deliveries attended by a skilled birth attendant has also been tracked. • Results and Conclusions As GPs are retrained as FPs and their ability to manage obstetrical emergencies improve, the percentage of deliveries attended skilled birth attendants has increased. Based on sound evidence, the World Health Organization has recommended that every birth be attended by a skilled birth attendant as an important means of decreasing maternal morbidity and mortality. Ecuador’s teaching of ALSO to GPs may serve as a model internationally.