Improving the fertility patient experience

by involving patients in developing standards of patient facing skills and behaviours to support the workforce in IVF clinics

Summary

Seeking fertility treatment is stressful. While the outcome for all couples is uncertain, there is evidence of health inequality in fertility outcomes for non-White UK citizens. Homosexual couples similarly report additional difficulties. The three staff professions involved (embryologists, clinicians and nurses) each have professional association competency frameworks that aim to identify the knowledge, skills and behaviours necessary to work in the sector. These are currently at different levels of development and use. None of them appear to have involved patients in their design. Our prior research suggests no patient involvement in any academic articles on the subject. With a few exceptions (such as the fertility nursing competency framework, and specific areas such as breaking bad news), the current competency frameworks contain no patient-facing skills, behaviours or competencies. In addition, the measures used to judge the quality of care during IVF treatment do not assess the patient experience.

We aim to improve the patient experience by partnering with patients to identify opportunities for supporting the fertility workforce to develop skills and behaviours that would reduce patient distress. To identify these opportunities, we plan to generate patient-informed competency frameworks. We seek to understand the role of additional staff competencies in reducing patient stress during treatment, and whether these competencies improve the patient experience. Evaluation of these frameworks, recommendations for assessing whether IVF clinics are delivering the desired patient experience, as well as development of staff education and associated training courses would be the subject of a future application for NIHR funding.