Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jun;25(3):1081-1093.
doi: 10.1111/hex.13455. Epub 2022 Feb 26.

The Tell me tool: The development and feasibility of a tool for person-centred infertility care

Eva W Verkerk  1 , Ester A Rake  1   2 , Didi D M Braat  3 , Willianne L D M Nelen  3 , Johanna W M Aarts  4 , Jan A M Kremer  1
Affiliations

The Tell me tool: The development and feasibility of a tool for person-centred infertility care

Eva W Verkerk et al. Health Expect. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Background: An important-and often missing-element of person-centred care is the inclusion of individual patients' values and preferences. This is challenging but especially important for high-burden fertility treatments. We describe the development of a clinical tool that aims to facilitate the delivery of person-centred fertility care by giving insight into the patients' values and preferences.

Methods: We developed the Tell me tool following the three principles of user-centred design: (1) early and continual focus on users; (2) iterative design; (3) measurement of user behaviour. Accordingly, our methods consisted of three phases: (1) conducting semi-structured interviews with 18 couples undergoing fertility treatment, followed by a consensus meeting with relevant stakeholders; (2) performing seven iterative improvement rounds; (3) testing the feasibility of the tool in 10 couples.

Results: The Tell me tool consists of a ranking assignment of 13 themes and two open-ended questions. These themes relate to the couples' wellbeing and experience of the treatment, such as mental health and shared decision making. The open-ended questions ask them to write down what matters most to them. The field test showed variation between the individual patients' answers. The tool proved to highlight what is important to the individual patient and gives insight into patients' personal contexts.

Conclusions: We developed a tool that gives insight into the values and preferences of the individual patient. The tool seems feasible for facilitating person-centred fertility care.

Patient or public contribution: The tool was developed with a user-centred design that strongly involved patients.

Keywords: infertility; patient-centred care; person-centred care; user-centred design.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overview of the methods used in this study
Figure 2
Figure 2
Method of iterative improvement cycles in Phase II of the development of the tool: cycles to adapt and adjust the tool, leading to new versions
Figure 3
Figure 3
Final version of the tool, consisting of parts A, B and C. Part A involves three steps, accordingly the three columns in part A. Part B and C consist of open‐ended questions
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) First completed tool (final version) of the feasibility test (Phase III) of a couple: (A) women version and (B) men version
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) First completed tool (final version) of the feasibility test (Phase III) of a couple: (A) women version and (B) men version
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Håkansson Eklund J, Holmström IK, Kumlin T, et al. “Same same or different?” A review of reviews of person‐centered and patient‐centered care. Patient Educ Couns. 2019;102(1):3‐11. - PubMed
    1. Frampton SB, Guastello S. Time to embrace a new patient‐centered care rallying cry: “why not?”. Patient. 2014;7(3):231‐233. - PubMed
    1. Dwamena F, Holmes‐Rovner M, Gaulden CM, et al. Interventions for providers to promote a patient‐centred approach in clinical consultations. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012;12:CD003267. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Garcia D, Bautista O, Venereo L, Coll O, Vassena R, Vernaeve V. Training in empathic skills improves the patient‐physician relationship during the first consultation in a fertility clinic. Fertil Steril. 2013;99(5):1413‐1418. - PubMed
    1. The Health Foundation . Person‐centred care made simple. 2014.

Publication types