Fertility specialist practice in the Philippines during the COVID- 19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

@#<p style="text-align justify;"><strong>Objective:</strong> To determine the changes in the clinical practice of infertility specialists in the Philippines, specifically, the proportion of specialists who stopped practice, length of break from clinics, the decrease in caseload, changes in consultation platform, screening frequency, number of clinicians that contracted COVI D 19 and safety protocols employed during the COVID - 19 pandemic.</p><p style="text-align justify;"><strong>Methods:</strong> A cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire given to all members of the Philippine Society for Reproductive Medicine (PSRM) last November 2020. Participants were requested to answer the questionnaire through google spread sheet, with informed consent. All data were collated, summarized and reported in terms of frequencies, and measures of central tendency.</p><p style="text-align justify;"><strong>Results:</strong> There were 110 active members of the PSRM who participated in the study. There was an overall decrease in the percentage of fertility consultations during the pandemic. There is also a substantial decrease in the caseload from different practices 45.4% reported more than 50% decrease in !VF-related procedures, 54.5% noted more than 50% decrease in intrauterine insemination procedures, 52.8% reported more than 50% decrease in ovulation induction treatment, and 66.3% reported more than 50% decrease in endoscopic procedures. About 37% of the respondents deferred approximately 5-10 cases for fertility treatment, with 27.3% of the respondents reported deferring embryo transfer to less than 5 couples. More than half of the specialists (51.8%) stopped performing fertility procedures and 68.2% of the respondents completely stopped doing out patient consultations. However, some specialists resumed clinics by May 2020 (30.9%) and June 2020 (30.9%). Upon resumption of clinics, specialists used both face to face consultation and teleconsultation, with the largest proportion of respondents using both platforms. Safety measures employed during face-to-face consultations to prevent disease transmission included hand sanitizers in the clinics, restricted number of people in the waiting room and consultation room, use of personal protective equipment, symptom check prior to face to face consults, installation of air purifiers, and acrylic barriers, and use of health declaration forms. Majority of the specialists are aware of the international and local guidelines regarding infertility care during the pandemic (98.2%) and inform patients regarding the contents of the guidelines (90%).</p><p style="text-align justify;"><strong>Conclusion:</strong> There is a significant decline in the consultations and fertility procedures during the pandemic. Specialists are well informed of the international and local guidelines regarding fertility care during the pandemic.</p>