Jacqueline Fitzpatrick

1. What’s the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is being the smiling clinical care giver while prepping patients for their egg retrieval or immediately post procedure. Most patients come in very anxious or wake up from sedation very emotional and to be there for the patients clinically and emotionally is very fulfilling.

2. To you, what step is most critical to delivering excellent patient care?
Besides being a smart and safe provider for the patient it's important to be kind, educate, laugh and cry with them too. These patients are so anxious and will do anything for a pregnancy. Treating them with a smile, being there when they cry and making sure they are comfortable after the procedure are all important. I am an RN, but I was also a fertility patient. Eventually, my worlds collided when I became a PACU RN in IVF. I love being a nurse. I love helping patients physically. I love empathizing with them, laughing and crying with them. I especially love that I can share my success through infertility with patients who are grasping at anything for a pregnancy.

3. What motivated you to join this field?
I have been an RN in outpatient settings in the pre-op and PACU (post anesthesia care unit) for 11 years and specifically in the IVF setting for 8 years. I was a patient at Fertility Solutions and the nurse there knew my background. They asked if I would come and work for them in their PACU/OR. I was an RN and a patient at the same time! I realized how much I loved this field having experienced it first hand. I understand and empathize with patients and tell them that I too had a several years long journey that was ultimately successful. Patients are so grateful when I share my story because it can be a very lonely place to be in especially if others close to them have not had infertility experience.

4. From working in reproductive health, what’s something you’ve learned about navigating challenges?
We are all individual humans with our own set of beliefs, our own wiring and genetics. Some patients are more emotional than others, some have more difficult journeys, and some have more physical issues that contribute to the process. There are so many factors that bring women into a fertility clinic that not many two are alike. The mind/body connection is something that I truly believe effects the outcome of a fertility journey.

5. What is the most important piece of advice, or tip, you can give to all people facing fertility struggles out there?
Don't Google! It's almost impossible not to do, but there is so much misleading information out there and each persons infertility journey is so individualized that most of the information may not pertain to you. Another piece of advice is to continue living your normal routine while going through the journey. I fully believe the mind/body stress inhibits positive outcomes. I have a great personal story that goes along with that and when I tell select patients they are so grateful to hear it.

6. Who are 3 inspirational figures to you in health and wellness and why?
I actually don't really have an answer to that! I find that I have to be my own inspiration for health and wellness. I have been through a lot with infertility, premature babies, and post partum depression. I consider myself and outgoing, happy, healthy woman and it shows that these issues don't discriminate. I didn't expect these events to occur and I am a stronger woman because of them. I had to be my own advocate to come out the other side. I meditated, journaled, was medicated for a period of time to help with post partum depression and if I wasn't inspired to help myself then I would not be the great mom, wife and nurse I am now.