DESIGN: A nonrandom convenience sample was used to obtain information about the educational level, clinical activities, knowledge base, and skills of nurses involved with in vitro fertilization. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred thirty-six returned surveys. RESULTS: The Wilcox rank sum test compared nurses in the private practice setting with those in hospital-based services. No differences were found with regard to educational level or perceived level of proficiency with regard to the practice setting or geographic location in the United States. Seventy-three percent of the respondents indicated their primary role was in direct patient care; 31% stated they had been active in artificial reproductive nursing less than 5 years. Graduate level education was not correlated with perceived level of expertise but did correlate with length of clinical experience in assisted reproductive nursing and with certification. CONCLUSION: Assisted reproductive nursing currently does not meet the standards for classification as an advanced practice nursing group. Action to further the area of reproductive nursing to a specialty in nursing or an advanced practice level is worth consideration for this highly specialized and unique group of nurses.
DESIGN: A nonrandom convenience sample was used to obtain information about the educational level, clinical activities, knowledge base, and skills of nurses involved with in vitro fertilization. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred thirty-six returned surveys. RESULTS: The Wilcox rank sum test compared nurses in the private practice setting with those in hospital-based services. No differences were found with regard to educational level or perceived level of proficiency with regard to the practice setting or geographic location in the United States. Seventy-three percent of the respondents indicated their primary role was in direct patient care; 31% stated they had been active in artificial reproductive nursing less than 5 years. Graduate level education was not correlated with perceived level of expertise but did correlate with length of clinical experience in assisted reproductive nursing and with certification. CONCLUSION: Assisted reproductive nursing currently does not meet the standards for classification as an advanced practice nursing group. Action to further the area of reproductive nursing to a specialty in nursing or an advanced practice level is worth consideration for this highly specialized and unique group of nurses.
Authors: Zahra Pourmovahed; Seyed Mojtaba Yassini Ardekani; Mohammad Ali Khalili; Iman Halvaei; Ali Nabi; Mojdeh Ghasemi; Farzaneh Fesahat Journal: Iran J Reprod Med Date: 2014-03