Effectiveness and safety of a direct-to-patient telehealth service providing medication abortion targeted at rural and remote populations: Cross-sectional findings from Marie Stopes Australia

Objectives We assessed the safety and effectiveness of direct-to-patient telehealth provision of medication abortion in Australia. Study design We included all medication abortions (January 2017–December 2018) from Marie Stopes Australia's patient management and adverse event reporting systems. We defined effectiveness as whether the patient had a continuing pregnancy, incomplete abortion, and/or subsequent vacuum aspiration or procedural abortion and safety as whether the patient experienced any adverse event. Results Direct-to-patient telehealth was more effective than in-clinic provision (97.2% vs 95.4%). The proportion of adverse events did not differ between groups. Conclusions This direct-to-patient telehealth service is safe and effective.

**目标**：我们评估了在澳大利亚直接面向患者的远程医疗提供药物流产服务的安全性和有效性。 **研究设计**：我们纳入了2017年1月至2018年12月澳大利亚玛丽·斯托普斯（Marie Stopes Australia）患者管理及不良事件报告系统中的所有药物流产案例。我们将有效性定义为患者是否持续妊娠、流产不全，以及/或者后续是否进行真空吸引术或手术流产；将安全性定义为患者是否经历任何不良事件。 **结果**：直接面向患者的远程医疗在有效性方面高于诊所提供服务（97.2% 对 95.4%）。两组之间不良事件的比例并无差异。 **结论**：这种直接面向患者的远程医疗服务既安全又有效。