Patient experience of infertility management in primary care: an in-depth interview study.
BACKGROUND
GPs do not have a full range of diagnostic resources to help manage infertile couples. Little is known about the patient experience of infertility management in primary care.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the patient experience of infertility management from a primary care perspective.


METHODS
This was a nested qualitative study with infertile couples in North-East England. In-depth interviews of infertile couples identified in the course of an observational study describing the incidence, prevalence, referral patterns and pregnancy outcomes for infertile couples. A grounded approach was used, with the interviews and analysis proceeding together using the method of constant comparison. Emergent themes and their links gave an overall explanation to the interview data.


RESULTS
We interviewed 22 patients in 13 interviews. Factors that influenced a couple's experience of infertility management were personal and professional relationships, patient autonomy in decision making and access to services.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides insights into the experiences of infertile couples seeking assisted reproduction from their GP. A good experience was linked to a strong personal relationship, a patient-centred professional relationship fostering informed decision making by the couple, GPs using diagnostic resources, interpreting restrictive clinical and social criteria and referring appropriately.
Wilkes
Scott
S
Centre for Primary and Community Care, University of Sunderland, Sunderland, UK. scott.wilkes@newcastle.ac.uk
Hall
Nicola
N
Crosland
Ann
A
Murdoch
Alison
A
Rubin
Greg
G
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D010358:Patient Participation; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011247:Pregnancy; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; D012944:Social Support; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014850:Waiting Lists