Division of Community Women's Health

Audrey McCartney, Summer 2019

This summer working as an Urban Health Project intern was incredibly rewarding and educational. It both a privilege and joy to work with Dr. Rocco Rossi as he staffed five Cincinnati Health Department clinics, worked at UCMC on Labor and Delivery, and performed gynecological procedures in the operating room. I was fortunate enough to watch the delivery of several babies and be able to scrub into surgery with Dr. Rossi and his residents. The clinical exposure that I had this summer will greatly benefit me moving into my second year of medical school and when I begin my clinical rotations third year. Beyond that, I learned so much about the access and care that underserved patients have in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Health Department works tirelessly to ensure top notch healthcare to uninsured and underinsured individuals living in Cincinnati. I had the opportunity to interact with women of different races, ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures, countries and languages. I have a much better understanding about the difficulties and obstacles that women face accessing and understanding their doctors and treatments. I hope that I will continue to deepen that understanding as I continue my training as a physician.

My summer project with Dr. Rossi entailed administering a survey to women who are receiving Title X benefits to assess their knowledge about and access to abortion services in Ohio and their understanding of the Title X gag rule. If implemented, the gag rule would affect clinics like the Cincinnati Health Department directly and the ability of their providers to provide comprehensive care regarding family planning. While regulatory and legal hang-ups slowed the process initially, I was finally able to train the nurses and medical assistants who room patients at the clinics on the administration of the survey. Given the current political climate surrounding abortion, these results will hopefully inform dialogue about future legislation and the importance of federally funded clinics like the Cincinnati Health Department to provide comprehensive resources and education to their patients without government interference. In total, we hope to collect around 150 responses. Preliminary results are showing the utter lack of knowledge that women have about abortion. It will be exciting to continue to have a hand in this project as we collect the remaining surveys and compile the data.

This summer not only sparked my interest in Obstetrics and Gynecology through vast amounts of clinical exposure, but also deepened my interest in wanting to serve an underserved population.

Download Audrey's poster (.pptx)