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Cryopreservation of reproductive material before cancer treatment: a qualitative study of health care professionals’ views about ways to enhance clinical care

BACKGROUND: Cancer treatment can diminish fertility in women and men. The need for fertility preservation is growing as increasing numbers of people survive cancer. Cryostorage of reproductive material to preserve potential for conception for cancer survivors has moved from being experimental to bei...

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Autores principales: Hammarberg, Karin, Kirkman, Maggie, Stern, Catharyn, McLachlan, Robert I., Gook, Debra, Rombauts, Luk, Vollenhoven, Beverley, Fisher, Jane R. W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5424377/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28490359
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2292-2
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author Hammarberg, Karin
Kirkman, Maggie
Stern, Catharyn
McLachlan, Robert I.
Gook, Debra
Rombauts, Luk
Vollenhoven, Beverley
Fisher, Jane R. W.
author_facet Hammarberg, Karin
Kirkman, Maggie
Stern, Catharyn
McLachlan, Robert I.
Gook, Debra
Rombauts, Luk
Vollenhoven, Beverley
Fisher, Jane R. W.
author_sort Hammarberg, Karin
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Cancer treatment can diminish fertility in women and men. The need for fertility preservation is growing as increasing numbers of people survive cancer. Cryostorage of reproductive material to preserve potential for conception for cancer survivors has moved from being experimental to being a part of clinical management of women and men who are diagnosed with cancer in their reproductive years. There is little existing evidence about how fertility preservation services can be enhanced to meet the complex needs of patients who are diagnosed with cancer in their reproductive years. The aim of this research was to inform clinical practice development by drawing on the collective experience and knowledge of staff at well-established clinics that offer fertility preservation before cancer treatment. METHODS: A qualitative research model was adopted using semi-structured interviews with professionals involved in the care of people who freeze reproductive material before cancer treatment. In the state of Victoria, Australia, two large assisted reproductive technology (ART) centres have been providing fertility preservation services for more than two decades. An invitation to participate in a semi-structured interview about clinical care in the context of fertility preservation was emailed to past and current staff members. To capture diverse perspectives, informants were sought from all relevant professions: fertility specialists, andrologists, nurses, embryologists/scientists, counsellors, and administrative staff. Transcripts were analysed thematically. RESULTS: Thirteen key informants were interviewed from August 2013 to February 2014. The identified themes relating to enhancing clinical care in a fertility preservation service were communication between oncology and ART specialists; managing urgency; managing patients’ expectations; establishing and implementing protocols, systems, and data bases; and maintaining contact with patients. CONCLUSION: The collective knowledge of this study’s informants, who represent multidisciplinary teams with more than two decades’ experience in fertility preservation, yields important insights into strategies that fertility preservation services can employ to promote the integration of oncology and fertility care, the psychosocial care of patients, data recording and monitoring, and reporting of outcomes. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-017-2292-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-54243772017-05-10 Cryopreservation of reproductive material before cancer treatment: a qualitative study of health care professionals’ views about ways to enhance clinical care Hammarberg, Karin Kirkman, Maggie Stern, Catharyn McLachlan, Robert I. Gook, Debra Rombauts, Luk Vollenhoven, Beverley Fisher, Jane R. W. BMC Health Serv Res Research Article BACKGROUND: Cancer treatment can diminish fertility in women and men. The need for fertility preservation is growing as increasing numbers of people survive cancer. Cryostorage of reproductive material to preserve potential for conception for cancer survivors has moved from being experimental to being a part of clinical management of women and men who are diagnosed with cancer in their reproductive years. There is little existing evidence about how fertility preservation services can be enhanced to meet the complex needs of patients who are diagnosed with cancer in their reproductive years. The aim of this research was to inform clinical practice development by drawing on the collective experience and knowledge of staff at well-established clinics that offer fertility preservation before cancer treatment. METHODS: A qualitative research model was adopted using semi-structured interviews with professionals involved in the care of people who freeze reproductive material before cancer treatment. In the state of Victoria, Australia, two large assisted reproductive technology (ART) centres have been providing fertility preservation services for more than two decades. An invitation to participate in a semi-structured interview about clinical care in the context of fertility preservation was emailed to past and current staff members. To capture diverse perspectives, informants were sought from all relevant professions: fertility specialists, andrologists, nurses, embryologists/scientists, counsellors, and administrative staff. Transcripts were analysed thematically. RESULTS: Thirteen key informants were interviewed from August 2013 to February 2014. The identified themes relating to enhancing clinical care in a fertility preservation service were communication between oncology and ART specialists; managing urgency; managing patients’ expectations; establishing and implementing protocols, systems, and data bases; and maintaining contact with patients. CONCLUSION: The collective knowledge of this study’s informants, who represent multidisciplinary teams with more than two decades’ experience in fertility preservation, yields important insights into strategies that fertility preservation services can employ to promote the integration of oncology and fertility care, the psychosocial care of patients, data recording and monitoring, and reporting of outcomes. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-017-2292-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2017-05-10 /pmc/articles/PMC5424377/ /pubmed/28490359 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2292-2 Text en © The Author(s). 2017 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hammarberg, Karin
Kirkman, Maggie
Stern, Catharyn
McLachlan, Robert I.
Gook, Debra
Rombauts, Luk
Vollenhoven, Beverley
Fisher, Jane R. W.
Cryopreservation of reproductive material before cancer treatment: a qualitative study of health care professionals’ views about ways to enhance clinical care
title Cryopreservation of reproductive material before cancer treatment: a qualitative study of health care professionals’ views about ways to enhance clinical care
title_full Cryopreservation of reproductive material before cancer treatment: a qualitative study of health care professionals’ views about ways to enhance clinical care
title_fullStr Cryopreservation of reproductive material before cancer treatment: a qualitative study of health care professionals’ views about ways to enhance clinical care
title_full_unstemmed Cryopreservation of reproductive material before cancer treatment: a qualitative study of health care professionals’ views about ways to enhance clinical care
title_short Cryopreservation of reproductive material before cancer treatment: a qualitative study of health care professionals’ views about ways to enhance clinical care
title_sort cryopreservation of reproductive material before cancer treatment: a qualitative study of health care professionals’ views about ways to enhance clinical care
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5424377/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28490359
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2292-2
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