The impact of hiring a full‐time fertility navigator on fertility‐related care and fertility preservation at a pediatric institution
Mariah L. Wright, Charleen I. Theroux, Anna L. Olsavsky, Daniel DaJusta, Kate McCracken, Jennifer Hansen‐Moore, Nicholas D. Yeager, Stacy Whiteside, Anthony Audino, Leena Nahata
Abstract
Abstract Fertility navigators (FNs) are important in communicating infertility risk and fertility preservation (FP) options to patients receiving gonadotoxic therapies. This retrospective study examined electronic medical records of patients with fertility consults at a large pediatric institution (2017–2019), before and after hiring a full‐time FN. Of 738 patient encounters, 173 consults were performed pre‐navigator and 565 post‐navigator. Fertility consults for long‐term follow‐up cancer survivors increased most substantially: pre‐navigator ( n = 7) and post‐navigator ( n = 387). Across diagnoses, females had a larger increase in consults compared to males ( χ 2 [3, N = 738] = 8.17, p < .05). Findings highlight FNs’ impact on counseling rates, particularly in survivorship.