Chapter 12 – Patient-Centered IVF Care
Abstract The notion that health professionals should try to understand illness and its treatments from the patients’ perspective instead of solely relying on scientific knowledge first emerged in the nursing…
Chapter 13 – The IVF Patient Journey of the Future
Abstract Since IVF led to the first successful birth over 40 years ago, it has transformed from a medical innovation focused on women with tubal occlusion to a far broader…
Chapter 11 – Patient Retention, Nursing Retention: The Importance of Empathic Communication and Nursing Support
Abstract The relationship between emotional health and infertility is a complex one. A hundred years ago, it was assumed that most, if not all, cases of infertility were due to…
Chapter 9 – The Economics of IVF: Evaluating the Necessity and Value of Public Funding
Abstract Infertility is recognized by the WHO as a condition leading to disability, and it is widely acknowledged that patients have a right to treatment. One of the treatment options…
Chapter 10 – Medical and Elective Fertility Preservation: Options and Suggestions for a Patient-Centered Approach
Abstract Fertility preservation (FP) has become a specialized branch of reproductive medicine aimed at preserving the potential for future genetic parenthood for young adults, or even children, at risk of…
Chapter 8 – Using Technology to Enhance Communication in Medically Assisted Reproductive Care
Abstract Technology is increasingly used in all spheres of life, including in healthcare. In this chapter we summarize what is known about when and how technology can enhance communication in…
Chapter 4 – ART Monitoring: An End to Frequent Clinic Visits and Needle Sticks?
Abstract Since the early eighties there has been tremendous evolution in the clinical approach to ART and in how to practically carry execution of these treatments. From a patients’ perspective,…
Chapter 7 – Psychological Counseling: Ethical Challenges of the Future
Abstract The interplay between psychological and ethical issues continues to shape and define the role and responsibilities of professionals in the field of ART. Advances in ART have brought the…
Chapter 5 – The IVF Cycle to Come: Laboratory Innovations
Abstract In the first reported case of IVF and embryo development in the human, Rock and Menkin made the following description of the culture and development of a fertilized embryo:…
Chapter 6 – Integrative Care
Abstract Couples (or individuals) present for fertility treatment because they are unable to conceive a viable pregnancy on their own. From a purely medical model perspective, the goal is fairly…
