Infertility Research and Data Collection

Data collection is a key component in our infertility research efforts and IRMS has developed extensive capabilities in this area to support both research and day-to-day patient treatment. To ensure accurate and timely collection and communication of information, IRMS developed its own PC-based computer systems to collect data at the various points at which it is generated – our clinical suites and various laboratories. Networking between systems makes information immediately available to both clinical and laboratory staff as needed.

System efficiency is especially important because IRMS actually straddles two townships, Livingston and West Orange, New Jersey, NJ. Doctors meet patients on the fourth floor of the East Wing of the main hospital and the embryology laboratories are directly across Old Short Hills Road, in the Atkins-Kent building. To avoid transporting eggs, sperm and embryos, egg retrievals and embryo replacements take place in surgical suites located alongside the laboratories on the third floor of the Atkins-Kent building. Additional laboratories and offices on the fifth floor are dedicated to infertility / reproductive research.

 

Data Collection and Patient Management

Clinical Reporting System
The practice of reproductive medicine and science varies substantially between clinics and laboratories, and IRMS continues to remain at the forefront of both patient care and research. Development and refinement of customized databases supports our complex information requirements. The data collection process relies on two separate database programs, one for clinical patient data and another for information generated by our embryology laboratories. They use widely available hardware and software to enable staff proficiency while ensuring flexibility and easy access to required information.

Our clinical database handles such things as patient appointments, examination room allocation and other information related to clinical operations. It also is used to log patient procedures, capture progress notes and other patient-specific information, including stimulation medications and infertility treatment data. This database provides straightforward reporting of information that is collected daily and used for the advancement of patient procedures. It also produces printed reports for patient charts.

Laboratory Database
The laboratory database was designed for IVF patient procedure maintenance and tracking, and to support our extensive and evolving research requirements. These requirements are complex because scientists cannot know in advance what types of analysis they will be performing. The database is flexible to permit adjustment for new approaches as they occur.

For patients undergoing IVF, daily reports cover development of ovarian follicles as they react to stimulation during preparation for oocyte retrieval. Others cover daily development of embryos in the laboratory prior to embryo replacement. With this information, laboratory staff can assist our physicians and patient couples with important decisions regarding embryo replacement.

Collected information also is critical to our quality control efforts. We rely on our laboratory database to provide embryo development and pregnancy rates. IRMS handles hundreds of cases each year and summary reports are used to compile or concentrate extensive information, which provides useful and important insight into the average results obtained for many different therapies and procedures.

IRMS also tracks individual oocytes and embryos, allowing for a much wider range of ways to analyze results than when they are simply grouped by patient. Another series of reports feature graphs of embryonic development according to groups of on-going cases, providing detailed information regarding the many factors that contribute to embryo development – from the culture medium used to the intricate procedures performed to assist in embryo development.

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