Monica R. McLemore
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About Monica
McLemore's program of research is focused on understanding the factors that contribute to inequities in women’s reproductive health and justice. The goals of her research are threefold: 1) to improve patient outcomes, 2) to improve access to care, and 3) to improve patients’ experiences of their care. Reproductive Justice is an intersectional framework that posits individuals have a right to abortion, a right to parent, a right to parent the children they have, and a right to disassociate sex from reproduction. This framework is the roadmap that guides all of her research, which can be categorized into four content areas area, namely, interrogating the context and content of care, evaluating providers of care, determining baselines of quality care, and generating evidence to inform policies that impact care.
McLemore has been a licensed nurse since 1993 and maintains clinical practice as a public health and staff nurse at San Francisco General Hospital in the Women’s Options Center. She is also an elected member of the governing council for Population Reproductive and Sexual Health section of the American Public Health Association and a recipient of the 2015 teaching award from the American College of Nurse Midwives. McLemore was named one of the 6 Amazing Women in Reproductive Health by the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals and is the 2018 recipient of the Abortion Care Network's Person of the Year award.
Contributions
No Jargon Podcast
In the News
Publications
Discusses findings and a call to action. Mentions how women of color living in communities that experience disproportionately high rates of preterm birth generated and prioritized research questions to address the preterm birth epidemic.
Discusses the basis of a grounded theory that shows nurses use many facets of decision-making when determining their participation in abortion care provision. Presents this decision-making process calculus formation and describes its components.
Analyses how the East Bay Community Birth Support Project provides entry into the health professions for previously incarcerated women and enhances access to culturally appropriate doula support for low-income communities. Argues that program participants experienced an increase in empowerment, improved assessment of skills, and confidence in perceived ability to provide doula support.
Finds several factors that contribute to successful nurse recruitment, retention, and career development in abortion care provision. Argues that all areas were significantly influenced by engagement in leadership activities and professional society membership.
Presents the argument that allowing advanced practice clinicians to perform early aspiration abortion was not a radical act, but routine for well trained clinicians and consistent with the skills they already possess in caring for women.
Reports patients’ experiences of their abortion care and provides individual and institutional factors that can improve those experiences.
Argues that this review of the literature succinctly summarizes the role of nurses in the care of women seeking abortions and identifies gaps in the published literature where future investigation should occur.