telephone (904) 398-8005 | toll-free (800) 733-7993 | recorded info (904) 399-4804
3599 University Boulevard South, Building #1200, Jacksonville, Florida 32216
3599 University Blvd South
Building #1200
Jacksonville, Florida 32216
TELEPHONE (904) 398-8005
TOLL-FREE (800) 733-7993
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First, we feel that probably the most important characteristic to consider is whether the facility is actually run and directly staffed by a full-time known and dedicated Florida licensed physician. Knowing your doctor allows you to know if he or she has the necessary experience to provide you with the type of care you request. Advertising can be a little confusing at times. There are still many abortion clinics that areactually not owned by licensed medical doctors, and these clinics may actually be operated by persons without any formal professional medical training or licenses. As is understandable, practices that are run by full-time physicians don't havethe influences of separate owners that are not medical professionals, and don't make decisions about your health and medical care based on the pressures of non-medical business owners. Physician practices should reliably offer the latest and most modern medicines, medical techniques, and medical safety practices due to the professional standards and the continual medical education required by the professional medical licensing board that non-professionals and standard business individuals simply are not under any obligation to perform. But most importantly, a facility run by a full-time physician and one that has a doctor in the office regularly every day and all day provides patients with the ability to obtain continuous care by the physician for their care. Physician practices have full-time physician coverage available to address your needs appropriately and in a timely fashion. The choice is always yours, and your common sense should help you make an informed decision.
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If you have a trusted gynecologist, some women choose to seek their knowledgeable advice at this time. Although this is a confidential decision, many of your personal and caring gynecologists are supportive of patient's personal choices and many are aware of reputations of the experienced and qualified abortion providers in their region. Doctors refer patients to doctors that they feel will offer good care to their patients. They care about you. It's sometimes helpful to ask if you are in this situation.
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Just like it is true that all doctors are not the same, it is equally true that facilities that offer or claim to offer abortions are not the same. In Florida, there are two types of licensing requirements for abortion clinics by law. Advanced facilities that provide complicated abortions must have the proper safety equipment, monitoring equipment, and physician expertise and be licensed by compliance with the stricter abortion licensing law. Advanced-care facilities that meet this higher safety standard are the ones that provide advanced, complicated, or second trimester abortion procedures. Clinics that only provide the basic early first trimester abortions only need to meet the lower minimum requirements to be licensed, and these requirements do not require the same level of safety protocols and advanced monitoring that the advanced level facilities do. Florida Women's Center is one of the few facilities in Florida that is qualified and certified to provide both early and late termination procedures. Due to this ability and physician qualifications, Florida Women's Center complies with the advanced and higher level licensing criteria required by the laws of Florida. In contrast, clinics that can only provide early first trimester abortions are not required to meet these strict educational, monitoring, equipment, and required safety standards by the State of Florida. "This is a big difference" between some abortion clinics in Florida. There are a few small and usually older-type clinics in Florida that only meet the minimum requirements for State licensing or early abortions, and because these clincs are not licensed to the higher requirements, these clinics are limited by law to providing only the early 1st trimester abortions. Unfortunately, some of these 1st trimester abortion clinics also may not provide safe and effective IV anesthesia to assure patient comfort for the abortion procedure, as this requires advanced monitoring and physician technical skill and experience. Every patient should be given the opportunity to be provided anesthesia and should also be given accurate and complete information as to the level of comfort available to them when undergoing a D and E surgical procedure. The safe administration of effective IV sedation is the standard in modern abortion medicine and, in most patients, the only way to eliminate the discomfort of a surgical abortion. If a clinic ever claims that anesthesia during surgery is not necessary, realize that this statement is not consistent with the care being provided by some of the most experienced abortion providers in the country, and may indicate that the clinic or facility is simply not able or qualified to provide this type of higher level patient care. Facilities providing abortions have dramatically changed over the past 20 years, and the newer advanced level abortion providers with the higher lever licensing certifications are the experienced doctors providing modern abortion care to women.
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Privacy is extremely important. Ask where the facility is located and how private the area is. Unfortunately, many older or chain-type abortion clinics are located in very public areas, even directly on street thoroughfares, which unfortunately can invite or provide opportunities for anti-choice and anti-women's rights protestors and picketers. Ask if they have picketers. These remarkably inconsiderate individuals and groups want to selfishly make your decision and experience as uncomfortable as possible, no matter what is right for you at this time in your life. They harass patients and often attempt to interfere with your appointment, even commonly resulting in the police becoming involved. Picketers are more common at standard streetside abortion clinics where the choice of facility location was not a primary concern, which can result in an unpleasant encounter with these extremely selfish and inconsiderate individuals. It is understandable that patients would like to avoid having to encounter these experiences, and wish to privately obtain their medical care without being harassed. That is why Florida Women's Center has chosen a location that offers the highest level of privacy. No one should have to endure these people or suffer from a lack of privacy at this time in their life.
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Make sure there is a doctor, and not only a nurse or nurse-practitioner available every day to see patients and evaluate any post-operative or medical concerns of patients. We believe the ability to address any surgical or medical concerns of patients after they leave is very important to our patients. Nurses or Nurse-practitioners are simply not trained at the level of a doctor and are not legally able to perform a surgical or medical abortion procedures in Florida. If a patient requires any follow-up surgical treatment, a nurse cannot do this and only a licensed doctor can. Having never performed surgery or being trained or able to perform surgery makes follow-up and aftercare by nurses suboptimal, as they may lack the knowledge to understand or treat your concerns resulting from a surgical procedure for which they cannot and have not performed. In a clinic without a doctor seeing you, this could result in you being sent to the ER or your care being delayed. Physicians realize that If a doctor performs a surgical procedure on a pateint, then optimally a doctor should perform the necessary follow-up to that surgical procedure. Also, make sure that only a doctor or certified ultrasound technician is performing your pre-operative ultrasounds. The ultrasound accuracy and pre-operative assessment is very important to the safety of the abortion procedure. If you do decide to go to a limited care abortion clinic that provides abortion services only one or two days a week, or just on weekends, it is advisable to ask them and find out in advance who you will need call with concerns when there is no doctor available, which is generally all the other days. If you seek care at a part time abortion clinic and you experience issues related to your surgical procedure, be aware that you may have to go to the ER or your own physician if a doctor is not available. Ask questions when you make your first call or when you visit. In the state of Florida, only licensed physicians, and NOT nurses or nurse-practitioners, can provide medical or surgical abortions in Florida.
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Determine when surgical abortions are offered. This is usually good clue as to what type of facility you are assessing. Most modern full-time physician run facilities offer services virtually every day (excluding Sundays) to allow for private individual patient appointments and allows patients to have continuous medical care. Being open and having a physician on site every day allows a better continuity of care for patients if they have any medical concerns. Smaller facilities without full-time physician staff which are usually the 1st trimester-only clinics, generally are only able to provide abortions on 1 to maybe 3 days of the week, usually based on whether there is physician availability.
