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Organizational Strategies to Overcome Barriers to Addressing Fertility Preservation in the Oncology Setting

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Fertility Challenges and Solutions in Women with Cancer

Abstract

Recognizing the importance of fertility and family building among adolescents and young adults with cancer, professional organizations have developed guidelines highlighting the need for oncology clinicians to inform patients about the potential risks to fertility from treatment, discuss options for fertility preservation, and refer interested patients to reproductive specialists. Nevertheless, patients continue to report unmet fertility-related informational needs. A number of organizational barriers have been identified by oncology clinicians, making it difficult for them to implement these guidelines in their professional practice. Oncology care settings must respect the challenges clinicians face in discussing fertility with their patients and develop organization-wide strategies to overcome these barriers. Specific strategies include education of oncology clinicians on fertility risks and fertility preservation options, ensuring the availability of patient education resources, establishing a network of collaborating reproductive specialists, promoting multidisciplinary responsibility for fertility discussions, and creating prompts reminding clinicians to address fertility. Success in implementing these strategies within the oncology setting, and ensuring they are institutionalized throughout the organization and sustainable over time, is optimized by using a centralized comprehensive approach.

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Acknowledgment

Funding: Funded in part through the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support Grant P30CA008748.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Joanne Frankel Kelvin

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  1. Joanne Frankel Kelvin
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Correspondence to Joanne Frankel Kelvin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico

    Hatem A. Azim Jr

  2. CUB-Erasme, Fertility Clinic, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

    Isabelle Demeestere

  3. Division of Gynecologic Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy

    Fedro A. Peccatori

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Kelvin, J.F. (2020). Organizational Strategies to Overcome Barriers to Addressing Fertility Preservation in the Oncology Setting. In: Azim Jr, H., Demeestere, I., Peccatori, F. (eds) Fertility Challenges and Solutions in Women with Cancer. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24086-8_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24086-8_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-24085-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-24086-8

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