scientific program • symposia - American Society for Reproductive ...

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM • SYMPOSIA
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 11:15 am – 1:00 pm
Symposium
Room 224 A/B
DOUBLE JEOPARDY, INFERTILITY AND PRENANCY LOSS:
HELPING PATIENTS AND STAFF COPE
A Joint Session presented by the Mental Health Professional Group and the
Nurses’ Professional Group
Joann Paley Galst, Ph.D. (Chair)
Private Practice
Jeanette Rodriguez, M.S., R.N.C.
Cornell University
Owen K. Davis, M.D.
Cornell University
Needs Assessment and Description
Superimposing pregnancy loss and repeated IVF failure
upon the experience of infertility can stretch both patients
and professionals to the limits of their grief tolerance.
Patients often feel disconnected from their IVF medical
personnel after learning of either an IVF failure or a
subsequent pregnancy loss. Both physician and nurse
communication can play a pivotal role in assisting patients
in coping with their multiple losses.
How do interdisciplinary members of the IVF staff perceive
and experience patients’ losses and grief? Little research
exists on the emotional strain to which the IVF professional
staff may be subjected. The results of an interdisciplinary
survey of IVF professionals will be presented to clarify this.
Information regarding patient reactions to loss and
how the professional can differentiate between
normal and complicated grief will be presented, as will
recommendations that staff can implement, both for
their patients and for themselves, to help cope with the
abundance of loss encountered when working with an
infertile population.
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Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able
to:
1. Recognize how the definition of pregnancy loss has
expanded as a result of assisted reproductive
technologies.
2. Acknowledge the impact of pregnancy loss and IVF
failure on the patient, the physician, and the nurse in an
IVF practice.
3. Differentiate between normal and complicated grief.
4. Consider the need for IVF nurses and reproductive
endocrinologists to recognize their own feelings of loss
in order to come to a healthy resolution regarding the IVF
failures and pregnancy losses of their patients, both to
avoid burnout and to be able to maintain a therapeutic
presence for their patients.
5. Recognize that the IVF staff needs to maintain
communication with patients after an IVF failure or
pregnancy loss and how therapeutic communication with
patients can be effectively implemented.
ACGME COMPETENCY
Patient Care
Interpersonal and Communication Skills
TEST QUESTIONS:
After participating in this session, on my practice I will:
A. Address the medical needs of my patients and assume
that the emotional needs of my patients experiencing IVF
failure and pregnancy loss will be taken care of by others.
B. Recognize my own and my staff’s emotional needs in
coping with the frequency of patient losses experienced
in an IVF practice, but have no system built into our
practice to address these needs.
C. Contact my patients after learning of their IVF failure or
pregnancy loss to express my sympathy and indicate my
availability to answer any questions that they may have,
as well as encourage emotional support between the
interdisciplinary members of our IVF team to address my
staff’s own emotional needs in coping with the
frequency of patient losses experienced in an IVF
practice.
D. Not applicable to my area of practice.