Lesson
1: Suspecting and Diagnosing Infertility
Choosing a Doctor
After
deciding that it is time to see a doctor, you must choose a doctor.
Most couples will see an OB/GYN for their initial infertility exam.
However, if you do not have a regular OB/GYN that you see for annual
exams, you have to find one, which can be a daunting task for someone
that has never had to search for a doctor before.
The
first step that you should take is to contact your insurance company
and find out which doctors are on the 'approved' list. If you do
not have insurance, or have already decided to pay for all visits
and treatment yourself, you don't have to worry about this. Once
you are armed with your listing of doctors, you need to start doing
a little research on each one.
The
first thing you should do is talk to your friends, family, and co-workers
and see if they have seen any of the doctors on your list, and what
they thought of the doctor. You want to narrow down your list to
a solid three to five prospective doctors, preferably those with
infertility experience. Once you get to your small listing of candidates,
you will need to contact each one and schedule an interview.
Why are you interviewing these doctors? Simple,
you will be hiring this doctor and spending hard earned money on
your dream of achieving a pregnancy. You would not hire someone
to work for you without first interviewing them, so why would you
hire a doctor without interviewing them? When calling the office
to schedule the interview, be up front with the person that you
speak to. Explain why you are calling and that you want to interview
the doctor before making a decision on whether or not to see him/her
for infertility testing and/or treatment.
You should try to keep the interviews as close together
as possible, as you will want to be able to compare your impressions
from one doctor to the next. You will also want your partner to
go with you to the interviews if at all possible, as their opinions
and impressions of the doctor are just as important as yours. The
interview should not take more than 20 to 30 minutes, and you should
take notes during the interview, which will help you later when
comparing the doctors that you have talked to.
Possible
Interview Questions
- What are your office hours? What about after
hour's care or emergencies?
- Do you share your practice with any other OB/GYNs? If no –
What about when you go on vacation?
- Which hospitals and labs are you associated with? Do you have
an in office lab to process blood tests?
- Who will I be seeing for most office visits, you or one of your
nurses?
- Who will answer my questions and address my concerns? Will you
explain procedures to be before they are done?
- What are your thoughts/views on charting fertility signs? What
about the use of herbal remedies and vitamin and mineral supplements?
- At what point would you refer us to a Reproductive Endocrinologist?
Would you do some preliminary testing/treatment before referring
us?
- Would you be willing to perform a series of hCG tests to confirm
that the pregnancy is developing? What about trans-vaginal ultrasounds?
If not, why?
These are just suggestions, you are encouraged to
create your own interview questions about what is most important
to you and your partner.
Once you have conducted the interviews, it is time
to choose a doctor. You and your partner should sit down with all
of your notes and discuss each doctor in as much detail as you can.
You should agree on which physician you want to see. If after evaluating
the interviews you are still unable to make a choice, I have a suggestion.
Take the names of the doctors that you like and can’t decide
on and put them in a box, hat, or some other container. Shake the
container up well and make sure that you cannot see the names. Do
you see where I am going with this? Yep, reach in and pull a name
out. If you are satisfied with the choice, this is the doctor for
you. If you are not happy with the name drawn, redraw until you
are.
Be sure to send a thank you note to all of the doctors
that you interviewed and let them know that you were able to make
a choice. You should also call the doctor that you have chosen and
schedule your infertility exam, which we will discuss in the next
section.
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