Do you have a single contact person/nurse at your fertility clinic/RE office?

daisy222-2 · January 2017

I guess this is a boring logistical question: do you have a single designated point person (a nurse probably) who you call with questions or who calls you with news/results? Do you need to remind people of things (what your protocol is) or do they remember? I don't know what's normal...

Related, has anyone ever voluntarily switched RE clinics in the middle of IF treatments, (or maybe between IUIs and IVFs) and was it a good or terrible idea? (Sounds SO tiring and frustrating (and time consuming) to go through all the testing, consults, etc. again, but sometimes the switch might be for the better?)

I am not actually seriously considering switching yet, but am currently a little frustrated as is DH. I have never seen or talked the same person more than once or twice even after 3 IUIs, a ton of ultrasounds and tests and consults/"regroups", and a few IVF preliminary appointments. We only see the doctor at the consults and otherwise deal with nurses. Which is fine, but I wish that if I had a question I had a single nurse who knew my situation to call/message! My clinic tends to do things "by committee", and there is a large committee. In theory this means that I don't have to wait a day if my nurse is off and whoever is available can talk to me, but I am not sure this is the best system because there has been some confusion/miscommunication about what is next for me, even after they "pull up my info". They also never know what I already know, and stuff they need to tell me slips through the cracks. There was one nurse I knew and liked but she no longer works there

I know I should take better notes and maybe keep a log of who I talked to or met with and what exactly they told me, but I sort-of want them to have their s*** together better because I feel like I am in a whole new confusing world and they are the experts. Also I am about to pay them an obscene about of $ and a little uneasy about it and want to feel more reassured that they are in control of my situation.

I think there was a question similar to this a while ago, but there are probably new people with new experiences now. Thanks for your input, and for letting me complain

(*edited to remove fertility clinic's name; I felt weird about that*)

rainbowwishes5 · January 2017

I have a single nurse and one main doctor who I have met with twice but hasn't actually done any procedures on me. This committee thing you're going though sounds like a freaking nightmare! I want to say run! But I don't know if you have better options? Hopefully. I'm thinking abt switching clinics if I ever do this again.

mtpbadger · January 2017

Yikes! That sounds like a headache! I have an assigned nurse that is my main point of contact who is assigned to my Dr. If she is out, another nurse on my drs team covers and I've had great experiences with all of them (except one who was my assigned nurse initially and we just didn't mesh so I requested a change). I've only met with my dr twice in person but talk to her on the phone after every cycle, if I have any specific questions, etc.

The only time it varies is on the weekends when only certain clinic locations are open and I'll get a call wit updated results from the on call nurses.

MMD1986 · January 2017

I go to a fairly small branch of a big clinic located in another city. So there is only one main doctor and a pretty small staff. The same person always does my labs, there are two ultrasound techs and a handful of nurses. While going through IUIs I always dealt with the one nurse, while going through surgeries I always dealt with another nurse, and in my upcoming IVF and consults I will always deal with another nurse. Not sure why they do it that way, but I like it. I guess they all just have their specialty areas.

I've heard the main location, which is about an hour away, is a different story. Way more doctors and nurses patients deal with. One positive of this is it allows them to be open weekends, where as my smaller one is only open M-F 7:30 to 4.

dadezbombz · January 2017

I have had this same experience. Terrible 3 cycles at 1 clinic. Finally told hubs, it's time to move on. Best thing we ever did. 1st cycle NFP and I'm 4 weeks along now. I highly suggest if you feel like it's not a right fit, listen to your gut best of luck

Winnie81_Old · January 2017

Oh gosh I'm sorry that you are dealing with that. It sounds so unorganized and I think that would add an extra level of stress in this already stressful ordeal. I have a nurse assigned to me, and then a back up contact if she happens to be out, but she has always answered when I call her. My clinic has a portal that I can communicate with the nurses on. Basically if I have a message that isn't urgent, I just message my nurse, and she checks the portal throughout the day, so she will either quickly respond or call me back.

I had a similar setup as yours at my previous RE, and it was a nightmare. I had to brief my doctor at every visit on why I was there (sometimes he thought I was a different patient). He had removed my endometriosis (myomectomy), but there was some left that he couldn't get to, so it grew back. My cramps were getting so bad, and one of my last visits to him, he looked at me and said, "your symptoms sound like you might have endometriosis. Has anyone ever diagnosed you for this?"...yeah...Are there any other potential clinics you can look into in your area?

Christianner · January 2017

This sounds very frustrating! I only have one nurse that contacts me, unless it is the weekend. That being said, I have had to remind a few people about what kind of progesterone I am taking. Most people in my clinic take Crinone but I take progesterone in oil.

teamginger13 · January 2017

Ugh that sounds terrible. I have one nurse that I am in contact with but I have been frustrated with my RE lately. After my last round of IVF I had 3 embryos frozen and we all agreed to unfreeze them and send them off for PGS testing. From there I was in contact with the embryologist only. 2 of my embryos didn't not survive the thaw and then one came back abnormal --- the embryologist was the one that gave me all this info. A week or 2 later I scheduled an appointment with the RE to discuss our next steps and she seemed SHOCKED that all this had happened. She had no idea. I even asked her what the communication was like between her and the lab/embryologists and she said "not good". I was like ummm well that should probably change.

Anyway, I have also considered switching but keep talking myself out of it because it will likely be a pain in the ass to get all the records transferred and all that. I do feel for you. This process is stressful enough and we put so much faith in the clinic -- you would hope that they wouldn't add any more stress that is not needed.

JamieH2000 · January 2017

I think I maybe started the other thread you mentioned :0) I ended up leaving my other clinic, tho I liked the nurses and RE and they have great success rates. I just felt like too much of a number with not enough direct contact with the RE themselves without setting up consults. Time will tell if I have success at my new clinic but so far I have one nurse contact and even have the REs email directly if I need to email her. After my saline sonogram, they wanted to do a consult to discuss what we were going to do for IVF but they had already ordered my meds for my protocol so I was like what is there to discuss, let's get started! And she was like ok, lets do it. So I think a change can be a very good thing if you have other options. Best wishes!!

KLake42 · January 2017

I've got one person, a nurse. Only, our first nurse retired, so we have another one now. It took a few times for her to get it straight what we're doing (which of us is having egg retrieval, and which is carrying, since we're doing reciprocal IVF), but once she'd had a few communications, she *knew* us and it was fine.

daisy222-2 · January 2017

@Winnie81 Oh my gosh that story made me so mad! "Has anyone ever diagnosed you with endometriosis?" Yes, you, you idiot, and then you removed it!

@teamginger13 That lack of communication between RE and the embryologist sounds incredibly frustrating. Don't they know how much is at stake? Arg!!

@JamieH2000
It sounds like your old clinic is very much like mine. How nice that the new one listens to you

And thanks so much everyone for your responses. I appreciate hearing about everyone's different situation. It sounds like the setup varies but most people have a designated nurse at least. Jealous of you ladies who can directly call or email the doctor him/herself! That sounds VERY nice.

I am in a large metro area so have other options, yes. A while ago, an acquaintance who has done IVF elsewhere remarked that my clinic has a reputation for being "the Walmart of IVF" and I didn't really understand what that meant (because its not cheap, lol, and the SART success rate data is slightly above average). But I think she was referring to how giant and impersonal it is. And I am very far removed from the doctor making the decisions.

omarismyhomeboy · January 2017

I have one nurse- and one RE- but my 'one nurse' has been switched on me 3 times in the past year. Oh well

Your situation sounds quite frustrating and I'm sorry.

LoweeeK · January 2017

Ugh - how frustrating! My clinic has 2 doctors and I have seen both of them, just depends on how the schedule shakes out. Luckily, they are both fantastic and I can't decide which one I like better! When I started IVF, I was assigned to the "IVF nurse team" of three nurses who would call with test results, etc. Although there are three on the team, I have predominantly only dealt with one of them. Those three also all share an IVF email address, so any non urgent questions can just be sent to that generic address and one of them responds almost immediately. I've had no complaints with the logistics of this so far!

sugarhead-2 · January 2017

My initial clinic was much more personal. I had 1 assigned REI and 1 assigned RN. But they had terrible patient communication problems, the RNs didn't really cover for each other, so when mine was off for 2 weeks nothing happened. Things didn't happen in a timely fashion a I would have to pay out of pocket for things because they didn't get authorization from my insurance in time.

Now I go to a much bigger practice across town that runs like a puppy mill. I have an assigned REI who is great and responsive to phone and portal messages. If I have an assigned RN, I haven't met her. I can't even count the number of different RNs, lab techs, sonographers. Even though it's so big, they are a well oiled functional machine. I'm okay just being a number in the clinic as long as things are happening

Sugar

hibiscus118 · January 2017

I go to a large practice with multiple locations in my area. The office I use most frequently except large procedure is a "smaller" one they have. My doctor is there, as well as the nurse I am assigned to. I have a direct number for her but she never answers and leaves everything to voicemail. She always returns my calls within a few hours during the week but I work in a building with terrible service so we tend to play phone tag. When I was cycling another nurse would always call on weekends with my results and any med changes. My doctor is hard to make appointments with, but is available by phone if it's an emergency. He also called the morning of my egg retrieval to give me a final update and what he recommended to transfer (he wasn't doing the transfer).

FWIW, I've also been told my clinic isn't very personal, but I have had a good experience. I'm not sure if the larger locations are different. If you have concerns, what about requesting one nurse/doctor, and if they can't do that then tell them you are moving on on. They may change their mind.

Polythene Pam · January 2017

We deal with many nurses, so far they seem to all be on the same page with my info. But we had one say my husband needed bloodwork just sometime this month, and another call me panicked that if he didn't come in that night we'd have to skip this cycle and delay IVF. We were traveling so that panicked me. Called back and other nurse said it's not an issue. Sooo. I know this clinic has mixed reviews but I'd still be on a waitlist for the other clinic, annoying. I'm hoping once we actually start (end of Jan) it'll run smoothly, I have two friends who had success here so I'm just ignoring the inconsistencies for now.

LadyMillil · January 2017

I had 1 nurse at my old clinic for Monday-Friday. If I needed to call on the weekend it could be any nurse that would call me back. The weekend nurses were really good at checking my file so they would know what was going on with me that cycle.

I did 3 IUIs and then switched clinics - not because I was unsatisfied with my RE/clinic, but because I got a great job and had to move across the country. My old RE was able to refer me to the new clinic and send my whole file including all of my test results so I should be able to just pick up my treatments where we left off at the last clinic. However, wait times for appointments at the new clinic are very long, so it's really frustrating that after having to wait months for the consult at my first clinic I have to go through all that waiting again at the new clinic.

If you aren't happy with your current clinic there is no harm in seeking a second opinion at another clinic. You likely won't need to have tests re-done.

dragonette505 · January 2017

I have switched clinics and its not that hard to get your records moved... the hardest part is thinking about it. All you have to do inform clinic #1 you'd like to either have all your records given to you or faxed to new clinic. Then all you have to do is sign the release forms, fax or give them to clinic #1 allowing them to release to you or forward to clinic #2. Done.

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