Reduction of Unnecessary in-Person Visits During an in Vitro Fertilization Cycle While Maintaining High Quality Patient Care.

INTRODUCTION

In vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles typically require multiple in-person visits for blood tests and ultrasonography to monitor the response to gonadotropins and predict treatment outcomes.The aim of the quality improvement project was to reduce the number of in-person visits for patients undergoing IVF while maintaining high-quality patient care.

METHODS

A multimodal quality improvement (QI) initiative was implemented for patients undergoing IVF through changes to the default settings in the electronic medical record and staff education. Data were collected prospectively for all patients undergoing IVF from June to August 2020 and retrospectively from June to August 2019.

RESULTS

A total of 178 and 202 IVF cycles were included in the preintervention and postintervention periods, respectively. The median number of visits per IVF cycle was reduced by 50% in the postintervention period compared with baseline (4.00 [3.00, 5.00] vs. 8.00 [7.00, 8.00], p < .001). There were no statistically significant differences in the odds of having more than 20 oocytes retrieved (OR 1.568; 95% CI 0.91-2.703), moderate or severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) symptoms (OR 1.08, 95% CI 0.17-6.73), or pregnancy rate per embryo transfer (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.45-1.50). A high level of patient satisfaction was observed.

CONCLUSIONS

In-person visits during an IVF cycle were rapidly reduced, with good patient satisfaction and no statistically significant differences in outcomes.