6 things to know when choosing a fertility specialist

So, you have decided to seek out a fertility clinic. Seeking out a specialist fertility clinic is important once you suspect that you have not conceived even after a trail of a year or two. A fertility specialist can help identify a problem and address it that much sooner than a general gynaecologist.

And now that you are taking a step towards reaching out to a Fertility Specialist, how should you go about it and what all should you consider? With so much information available and with so many variables to consider – it can get a little overwhelming. It would be normal to worry that you may miss something.

To help you cover all areas of your research and cover your questions, here is a quick checklist:

Experience of the Doctor at the Fertility Clinic

To know more about the specialist, can offer an immense amount of peace of mind. It is often best to read up on the experiences of your experts. Where did they study? What has been their journey? Read up their profiles, and see their professional development – guest speaker at conferences etc. Their background, years of study and focus of studies, specialisations or papers can establish the level of competency. It takes many years of intense training to become a specialist.

Clinic’s Success Rate

With so many different kinds of patients and various procedures, the success rates will differ. You can ask the doctor/clinic to share information of the number of treatments and number of pregnancies and live births resulting from those treatments; these figures can help you determine for yourself the success rate of a clinic, based on a procedure like IVF or IUI. Success rates, however, can be a bit misleading, as it is very individualised based on your case profile. A clinic success rate can also vary based on the population they treat and the number of patients they treat.
In such a case it will be better to look beyond a simple success rate and ask meaningful questions weighing in other factors, as each case is unique but some of the factors to consider could be age, number of embryos, budgets etc.

Client Testimonials

This the world of Web 3.0, there are many ways to read about the doctor/clinic – one of them being reading “testimonials” from other patients on various review and listing sites. It is good to know what kind of demography and problems are being spoken about by the patients. These reviews also give a wonderful insight into the how these specialist treat their patients.

Quality of the Laboratory

A high-quality lab is absolutely crucial to success. This is where the most painstaking processes of fertility treatments such as IVF/ICSI takes place. Whether your chosen fertility clinic has a good infrastructure-embryology lab and a dedicated well-trained embryologists matters to the success rates. You can read up more about our lab here.

Convenience of location and hours

Location of the fertility centre can be a big factor for you choosing it as your centre. If you decide to commit to fertility treatment you will need to visit the clinic a number of times during each IVF cycle. A centrally located centre or easily accessible fertility clinic will help lessen disruption to your normal routine. Also waiting times in clinic varies and well-run clinics ensure a smooth experience for patients when they present for consultation.

Range of Specialised Services being offered

You should also analyse the range of services being offered within a centre, this would mean they are ready to look at you in a more holistic way and help you that sooner. Furthermore, the fertility specialists are also thinking of your overall well-being with thoughtfulness and foresight.

We hope this information is helpful. For a more detailed discussion, email us or simply fix an Appointment here