The Impact of the SPIKES Protocol With IVF Patients

A Comparison of the SPIKES Protocol for Delivering Bad News to the Current Standard of Care in the in Vitro Fertilization Population

The purpose of this study is to determine if the utilization of the SPIKES protocol for delivering bad news is perceived to be more compassionate and effective than the current standard of care for IVF patients receiving negative pregnancy test results.

Presently, nurses at Boston IVF (BIVF) and Weill Cornell Medical Center Division of Reproductive Medicine (Cornell) do not have a scripted method to deliver negative pregnancy tests to in Vitro Fertilization (IVF) patients. This study will invite clinic nurses to assist in the research protocol; half of the nurses will be randomized to be trained on a compassionate way to deliver bad news following the SPIKES protocol, while the other half will continue with the current standard of care of news delivery. The patients who receive the negative test phone calls from participating nurses will be surveyed to see if the method of which the news was delivered was scored as more compassionate, as well as if it was associated with reduced participants reported level of distress and depression.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Female
• Age >18
• Underwent an embryo or blastocyst transfer using their own eggs at participating clinic
• Able to read and understand English
• Access to email
• Received a negative pregnancy test result phone call from a nurse involved in the research study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Partners of patients undergoing treatment