Team Coordination Achieves Baby-Making Goals

Imagine you're on a football team with a lot of talent, hoping to win the championship this season. Your fellow players on offense, defense, and special teams all look strong, so you've got reason to be hopeful about the outcome. But then you learn that the owner has hired five head coaches and plans to give each of them control of the team for one day a week and two games a season!

You'd surely be upset because you can foresee the chaos that will result. Your hopes of a championship season have been dashed. Your daily routine during practice will be a nightmare, as you try to continuously adjust your play to the coach in charge that day. Clearly, this scenario, even if each of the five coaches is talented, is not going to win you the championship.

Providing quality care for infertility is much like running a football team. And just like football, teamwork is essential to getting the best results. Unfortunately, not all infertility practices are structured to provide optimal teamwork. How can you recognize effective teamwork?

As in football, infertility practices have to field a full team of talented players:

  • Doctors
  • Program Coordinators
  • Nurses
  • Embryologists
  • Counselors
  • Andrologists
  • Lab Techs
  • Administrative Support Staff

So many players are needed to provide the quality and breadth of treatments required. But for the team to function in a coordinated and effective manner, these players need to be coached in how best to do their jobs and how to support each other. While you, as a patient, may not be a permanent member of the team, you are a critical member while in treatment.

Communication based on respect is the foundation of teamwork.

In the medical arena, the doctors are the coaches. If a practice has several doctors, then it's important that they meet regularly to discuss their strategy, not just to talk about business issues, but also treatment issues.

Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine (ACRM) provides an example of how five specialists in infertility and endocrinology can strive to meet patients' needs as part of a team. Patient progress is evaluated daily. Weekly group meetings highlight treatment protocols, as well as determine solid team practices by reviewing the latest research in infertility. Throughout the communication process, meeting the physical, emotional, and financial needs of the patients remain the primary goals.

As the patient-member of the team, you should:

  • Feel respected as an individual with identity beyond your "patient characteristics"
  • Feel as though your emotions are permitted
  • Realize that your medical teammates will become significant in your life to varying degrees
  • Realize that professionals are also humans with their own limitations
  • Feel free to voice your own ideas and concerns about diagnosis and treatment
  • Recognize that all infertility involves suffering, anxiety, and insecurity
  • Make an effort to educate yourself about your condition(s)
  • Try to remain realistic and avoid being idealistic about all aspects of treatment
"One of the things that's notable about all the physicians here (at ACRM) is that we think along the same lines regarding diagnostics and treatment," says Dr. Jim Toner. "Since we have regular meetings to discuss each patient's situation, we're able to give up-to-date and coordinated care, no matter the problem."

r. Toner, who also has a PhD in psychology, adds, "Our daily communication process eliminates any confusion. We often hear that patients are impressed with the continuity of care they receive, regardless of which doctor they see at any appointment."

True teamwork recognizes and respects the ability of several individuals working together to achieve outstanding results not possible through individual efforts. Each team member at ACRM is an individual with their own particular interests and skills in the reproductive field. When combined with their teammates' talents and a healthy dose of positive enthusiasm, the goal -- a healthy baby -- can be achieved.

For more information on Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine, visit their website

Meet Dr. Jim Toner of ACRM