Zeitschrift für fortgeschrittene Praktiken in der Krankenpflege

Can the Nurse do Folliculometry in Acceptable Agreement as Infertility Clinicians? First Part of Ongoing Training Program

Abstract

Ahmad ER, Al-Turki HA

Background: Nurses can achieve competence in performing Folliculometry (FM) during ovarian stimulation cycles (OSC) within a reasonable timeframe. However limited information is available regarding the difference in the folliculometry performance between nurses and physicians in Arab countries especially in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the agreement of the Folliculometry Scans (FS) performed by trained nurses compared to infertility clinicians.
Design: A descriptive comparative prospective design was used. Methods: The study was conducted in the Obstetrics and Gynecology/Ultrasongraphy Unit at King Fahd Hospital of the University. A total of 346 ultrasound scans were performed for 104 eligible infertile consecutive patients by 6 postgraduates OBGYN nurses and 6 infertility clinicians. The nurse had hands on training given by expert infertility consultants for 8 sessions, 2 hours per each before she could independently perform the scans. Two tools were used for data collection, a checklist observation sheet to assess the performance of the nurses before starting the study, and the 2nd tool was the observation of follicular Scan (FS) findings of all raters.
Results: Almost perfect agreement was observed between both raters regarding all FS quantitative and qualitative uterine and ovarian values at different times of menstrual cycle. Conclusion: With appropriate training and supervision, the nurse can perform FS and interpret the quantitative and qualitative findings with high level of agreement and accuracy similar to that obtained by infertility clinicians.