Hi there
On the naming, as luck would have it, I had a meeting yesterday with the Miscarriage Association and the Association of Early Pregnancy Unit's who we worked with when we did this survey.
The results were in - and showed great support for 'surgical treatment of miscarriage' however, there was also significant support for an alternative term 'surgical management of miscarriage'. As this wasn't one of the options that was in the original consultation (but suggested by respondents), they want to re-survey to be absolutely sure the right term is picked. A little bit of a pain, I know, but will at least then have big support without people being able to say 'oh but hang on what about my suggestion'.
I also found out a bit more about what happens when new term is chosen. Basically it's then up to the leaders in this field to make sure it's used. For new Drs and Obs and Gynae people that's a bit easier as something called the curriculum committee can adopt it and it will be in all new training (including for GPs) but for those in existing jobs, the message is disseminated through academic papers, literature, conferences etc, so there is some lag.
And while the members of the AEPU were very keen to ensure this happens, they did suggest we also have to follow up with GPs.
We also touched on the fact that the term abortion or spontaneous abortion was still used in relation to miscarriage - some of them were quite shocked. This could be due to older staff who haven't 'refreshed' their training, but they were also discussing a wider issue with WHO nomenclature (there's a word I haven't used for a very long time) which is used to code patients on a world wide basis. Many NHS systems use this (have to use I think) and they do still use phrases like that. So even if the care you're given reflects the most sensitive language, it is possible your notes will then be coded in such a way.
The AEPU member really recognised this as a problem and are trying to work through at official levels - but I said we'd be happy to help.
We'll of course put the new survey up and make a song and dance about it when it's ready so we can all respond again.
On the monitoring Taffeta you're right - only a start - but one thing we've realised is that some areas will focus on this, others will pretty much ignore it, but it's sooo difficult to work out who's doing what - so it will at least help to kick start some action.