A Review of Infertility

Course #61534 -

Overview

Infertility greatly impacts the lives of patients and couples who are trying to conceive. All too often, healthcare professionals underestimate patients' emotional strife when confronted with a fault in the process that they feel should be occurring easily and "naturally." In order to better serve individuals or couples who are affected by infertility, it is necessary for clinicians to have a good understanding of what causes infertility in males and females, the treatments that can initially be prescribed for this condition in both sexes, and when to refer patients to infertility specialists or those specializing in assisted reproductive technology (ART).

Education Category: Community Health
Release Date: 07/01/2023
Expiration Date: 06/30/2026

Table of Contents

Audience

This introductory course is designed for psychologists involved in the care of patients experiencing either primary or secondary infertility.

Accreditations & Approvals

Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists are provided through the co-sponsorship of the American Psychological Association (APA) Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (CEP). The APA CEP Office maintains responsibility for the content of the programs.

Designations of Credit

NetCE designates this continuing education activity for 10 credit(s).

Course Objective

Given that an estimated 10% of couples in the United States are infertile, it is inevitable that many healthcare professionals will encounter patients seeking medical help for this condition. The purpose of this course is to provide psychologists with the information necessary to counsel and make referral decisions regarding the infertile patient or couple and to provide sensitive patient education in order to ensure the highest level of care and patient satisfaction.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

  1. Identify the two basic types of infertility.
  2. Outline the epidemiology of infertility in the United States.
  3. Review the anatomy and physiology associated with male and female infertility.
  4. Recognize the pathophysiology of male and female infertility.
  5. Identify the various risk factors associated with infertility.
  6. Compare and evaluate the diagnostic findings associated with infertility.
  7. Recommend lifestyle modifications for patients with infertility.
  8. Select appropriate pharmacotherapeutic interventions for improving fertility.
  9. Evaluate surgical, radiologic, and assisted reproductive technology (ART) interventions, including donor eggs or sperm, induced ovulation, in-vitro fertilization (IVF), gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT), and zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT).
  10. Evaluate the psychosocial ramifications of infertility.

Faculty

Teisha Phillips, RN, BSN, received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Point Loma Nazarene University in 2005. She has nursing experience in a variety of clinical settings including multispecialty outpatient surgery, fertility, women's health, and cosmetic/aesthetic nursing. Her primary focus and passion is on direct patient care and patient education. She is presently employed as a perioperative nurse at an outpatient surgery center in the greater Sacramento area.

Faculty Disclosure

Contributing faculty, Teisha Phillips, RN, BSN, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.

Division Planner

Margaret Donohue, PhD

Division Planner Disclosure

The division planner has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.

Director of Development and Academic Affairs

Sarah Campbell

Director Disclosure Statement

The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.

About the Sponsor

The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.

Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.

Disclosure Statement

It is the policy of NetCE not to accept commercial support. Furthermore, commercial interests are prohibited from distributing or providing access to this activity to learners.

Technical Requirements

Supported browsers for Windows include Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0 and up, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 and up, Opera 9.0 and up, and Google Chrome. Supported browsers for Macintosh include Safari, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 and up, Opera 9.0 and up, and Google Chrome. Other operating systems and browsers that include complete implementations of ECMAScript edition 3 and CSS 2.0 may work, but are not supported. Supported browsers must utilize the TLS encryption protocol v1.1 or v1.2 in order to connect to pages that require a secured HTTPS connection. TLS v1.0 is not supported.

Implicit Bias in Health Care

The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.

Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.