A multidisciplinary pediatric oncofertility team improves fertility preservation and counseling across 7 years

Abstract

Abstract Background Oncofertility is a developing field of increasing importance, particularly in pediatric oncology, where most patients are likely to survive long‐term and have not yet had the opportunity to have children. Aims We performed a quality improvement initiative to increase our rates of fertility preservation counseling and referral through the implementation of a pediatric oncofertility team, and we report outcomes 7 years following implementation of our initiative. Methods and results We compare our baseline oncofertility survey to 44 post‐intervention survey respondents and electronic medical record documentation for 149 patients treated in 2019. Ninety‐five percent of post‐intervention survey respondents recalled fertility counseling (baseline 70%, p = .004) and 89.3% were appropriately referred for fertility preservation (baseline 50%, p = .017). Counseling was documented in 60.4% of charts; 81% of patients analyzed by chart review were appropriately referred for fertility preservation. Fertility preservation outcomes differed by sex assigned at birth. Conclusion Creation of an oncofertility team produced improvements in fertility counseling and fertility preservation referral across an extended period of time.

Keywords

• fertility counseling
• fertility preservation
• oncofertility
• pediatric oncology
• quality improvement