The U.S. Embryologist Fatigue Study

NCT ID: NCT05326802

Last Updated: 2023-01-25

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Total Enrollment: 246 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2022-04-07
• Study Completion Date: 2022-05-30

Brief Summary

The purpose of the study is to determine physical and mental health issues of U.S. embryologists related to their occupational characteristics, and how workplace fatigue and burnout may affect their quality of life, cynicism, interactions with patients, attention to detail, and lead to human error, the cause of the most severe IVF incidents that often make headlines and result in costly litigation. It will also correlate how the current manual workflows contribute to these health issues, and what measures can be taken to improve both working conditions and embryologists' health, and, therefore, improve patient care.

Detailed Description

Embryologist fatigue surveys conducted in Spain and the United Kingdom reported that embryologists experience work-related mental health issues similar to surgeons in the United States (36.3% in Spanish and 27.8% in U.K. embryologists v. 34% in U.S. surgeons), as well as high rates of self-reported, work-related MSDs despite taking better care of themselves than the average population. Among prevalent mental issues, they highlighted fatigue, stress, and burnout as contributing factors to decreased efficiency, cynicism, and emotional exhaustion, which, together with having to handle the increasing cycle volume using conventional, manual protocols of cryomanagement, can lead to human error and IVF incidents. The known IVF incidents resulted in lost, damaged, or misplaced embryos and gametes, lawsuits, and reputational damage to patients and providers. In the absence of a "better than" cryopreservation storage solution, many programs just turned to buying more tanks and alarms and/or added expensive staff. The more effective solutions should focus on optimizing workflows by adopting innovation like automation and a digital chain of custody, organizational changes that will lead to a more productive, collaborative, and rewarding work environment, allowing embryologists to focus on patient care, scientific research, innovation, and career planning, and fewer incidents and lawsuits.

The purpose of this cross-sectional study using a web-based survey is to determine physical and mental health issues of U.S. embryologists related to their occupational characteristics, and how workplace fatigue and burnout may affect their quality of life, cynicism, interactions with patients, attention to detail, and lead to human error, the cause of the most severe IVF incidents that often make headlines and result in costly litigation. It will also correlate how the current manual workflows contribute to these health issues, and what measures can be taken to improve both working conditions and embryologists' health, and, therefore, improve patient care.

Conditions

Fatigue; Stress; Burnout, Professional; Musculoskeletal Pain; Back Pain; Neck Pain; Headache; Dizziness; Sleep Disturbance; Chest Pain; Syncope; Cardiovascular Diseases; Shortness of Breath; Gastrointestinal Diseases

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: COHORT
• Study Time Perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL

Study Groups

U.S. Embryologists

U.S. embryologists of all ages, career levels, and other sociodemographic groups will be asked questions about their physical and mental health related to their occupational characteristics using the nationally validated surveys and questionnaires, and also about their working conditions in the ART/IVF laboratories using a custom occupational questionnaire and the single-item work unit grade (A-F).

No interventions assigned to this group

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• complete surveys from embryologists;

Exclusion Criteria

• incomplete surveys from embryologists; complete and incomplete surveys from non-embryologists.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 22 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Dudley Associates Healthcare Marketing & Communications

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

TMRW Life Sciences

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Anar Murphy, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

TMRW Life Sciences

Michael Collins, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

TMRW Life Sciences

Locations

TMRW Life Sciences

New York, New York, United States

Countries

United States

References

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Reference Type: BACKGROUND

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Reference Type: BACKGROUND

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Murphy A, Lapczynski MS, Proctor G Jr, Glynn TR, Domar AD, Gameiro S, Palmer GA, Collins MG. Comparison of embryologist stress, somatization, and burnout reported by embryologists working in UK HFEA-licensed ART/IVF clinics and USA ART/IVF clinics. Hum Reprod. 2024 Oct 1;39(10):2297-2304. doi: 10.1093/humrep/deae191.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 39198005 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

Pro00062375

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id