Genesis Fertility Clinic Blog
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May 16, 2009
At the end of the day
At the end of a day, one of the things that we doctors at Genesis like to do is to sit down together and talk about the day. We talk about difficult cases and great success stories and everything in between. It is a great opportunity to bounce ideas off each other. Often, someone will have read a medical article that he or she feels should be shared and discussed. We also talk about cases from the past that may shed more light on what is going on with a particular patient now.
These kinds of informal discussions are really important for both us and our patients. For our patients, this kind of communication makes sure that all heads are being put together to try to optimize their care and treatment cycle. For us, it allows for a forum of discussion and keeps the work interesting and challenging.
As our computer software improves, what we are finding is that it gets easier and easier to access patient information quickly. What we docs have been doing at the end of the day lately is reviewing the pregnancy test results that have come in that day. It is tremendously exciting to see a positive pregnancy test result in patients but it is also very important to know whose result was negative.
Being a fertility doctor is incredibly satisfying work for many reasons – most of which is helping our patients with their fertility journey. Some patients get pregnant relatively easily and they are thrilled, sending cards and thank-you’s with pictures of their new babies. Many patients struggle and get frustrated and angry with their journey. Believe me, we get frustrated too. Sometimes we have no answers or we have found problems that are insurmountable. These can be frustrating conversations but they are conversations that must be had.
It is in these little meetings at the end of the day that we docs can talk about our patients and spend some time reflecting on the work that we do and the things we have yet to know.
Dr. Jason Hitkari, MD, FRCSC
Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility