Perceptions of the Infertile Patient Educated and Cared for Via Telemedicine
Abstract
Approximately 20- 25% of women require infertility treatment using Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART). These specialized services require highly educated personnel. The availability of these services is compounded by the limited access of specialty care available in the rural areas.
An advance in communicative technology called “Telehealth” has increased the accessibility of how education is delivered to patients in rural areas. Nurse and patient, located miles apart, are able to communicate through visual and audio means with the nurse providing education and support to the rural infertile patient. The focus of this Practice Improvement Project was to determine the patient perspective and satisfaction with the use of telemedicine during their treatment. Patients were surveyed to ascertain their perspectives and satisfaction with telemedicine. The data received confirmed women were satisfied with the education they received during their telemedicine visit. Sanford Health Systems (SHS) has expanded their telemedicine program due to the demand.