THE ROLES AND EXPECTATIONS OF THE INFERTILITY NURSE PRACTITIONER AND THE SCOPE FOR EXTENDED NURSING PRACTICE

It has been shown by the Royal College of Nursing Fertility Nurses Gro up in their professional survey report that the roles of infertility n urses vary from one centre to another. The role of nurses began to dev elop about 15 years ago. They officially extended the role and moved f rom carrying out nursing care under instruction (from the clinician), to planning, prescribing, evaluating and auditing nursing care. They a lso started undertaking clinical procedures previously carried out by medical staff, Formal training and certification was given, However, t his 'extended role' is now seen to be restrictive and implies a limit to the role, rather than extending nursing practice. After formal trai ning, nurses who are prepared to take further responsibility are now m oving into more specialized areas, In the field of infertility, nurses have demonstrated that they are clearly capable of total patient care , and are becoming experts in their own right. They follow the patient s from their first visit to the hospital and, in the case of in-vitro fertilization, through to embryo transfer and after-care, Counselling has become an integral part of the nurses' role and they are acquiring formal qualifications, For nurses with a scientific background, semin ology and embryology are also possibilities. As the role develops, is it not a reasonable expectation that, after formal training, nurses ma y undertake noninvasive procedures such as ultrasound-guided oocyte re covery?