How Happy is Your Embryologist

In this episode we’re talking to some incredibly passionate people who absolutely love their jobs - meet the Embryologists and learn about the highs and lows of their work as we talk to 3 female and one male embryologist - in a field that is over 75% female. We hear from Alease Daniel, Victoria Wigley, Dani Smale, and Giles Palmer about what makes them happy and sad in their work. What was discussed: Why Alease chose to share her work on social media to dispel the mystery about the lab and how it can empower patients How Labs can be understaffed and embryologists are undervalued and their opinions aren’t valued. Burnout but it’s still a job - they don’t want to be worked to death and the human aspect of the embryologist isn’t considered. Lack of training in delivering bad newsHow when Victoria was working as a lab manager meant she could spend more time with patients - not been able to do that previously, so didn’t have the opportunity to build rapport How she realized there was a gap in the info from the lab side - eg. lots of questions from patients about add-ons that make patients feel vulnerable The benefit of having someone impartial to go through them to make an informed decision to go back to the clinic and feel more in control WHow being an Emrbyologist is always a topic of conversation at dinner parties always fascinates people. How you go on the journey with patients so when it doesn’t work or they lose the baby, it’s heartbreaking Embryologists are scientists and aren’t trained in the emotional side Talks about a study of over 1k embryologists - looking at mental health and presented as a poster at Fertility 2022Job needs a lot of skills, as there is little automation. Need good hand and eye coordinationOften work alone  but often don’t do the whole cycleCan be very stressful Daily appraisal - why didn’t this person get pregnant Time Commitment - every weekend, on a rota, often on call - mission-critical equipment is on alarms Job changes all the timeAbout 75% are female to male in embryology The embryology population is ageing out This series of The Fertility Podcast is sponsored by TMRW SOCIALS: We really want to hear your thoughts on whether this matters to you. Please email Fertility PoddyKate Alease Daniel Victoria Wigley Giles PalmerIVF Initiative Webinars - https://ivfmeeting.com/