IF Clinic vs. RE@OB-GYN office: opinions?

[Jelinifer]

I'm being monitored by my OB-GYN at the moment, but she's told us she'd like to give us a referral to an RE since Clomid hasn't worked so far... I have the option of seeing a "floating" RE that comes to my OB-GYN's office, or travelling a few hours into the city to go to an infertility clinic... Ins. coverage is the same for both options, and the CDC satistic reports are about the same for both.... what would you folks choose?

[Julia'sMom]

First off, I've never heard of a "floating" RE. The concerns I would have are all the options and testing that is done with the staff, not necessarily the doctor. If you went with the floater, would you still have to travel to his base office for testing, such as the hsg? What about ultrasounds for monitoring, where would those be done? Also, is the RE available only on specific days? The timing is so important that I've even seen women have difficulties when the clniics close on Sunday. Just some things to think about... However, since if can be so many appointments, not having to travel a couple of hours would be a huge benefit.

I guess I would say it depends on what ou want to do? If you just want testing, and then perhaps try clomid at a higher dosage, the floating RE may work. If you're going to get into injectibles and iuis and all of that, then you definately need someone that is available all the time, and staff that is used to the monitoring u/s used in treatment. Good luck!

[Jelinifer]

As far as I know, all of the procedures would be done at the hospital that OB-GYN practices out of. I live in kind of a rural area, and the "floating" RE is based out of a clinic hours away. He only works out of my OB's office, but claims an IF clinic 3 hours away as his actual "office." It seems like all of the RE's at this particular clinic work at local OB offices throughout the state to be more accessible to women so they don't have to drive 5+ hours to see an RE. I'm wondering if driving the extra time to go to an actual clinic would be a better option

[soulshine]

i live in a rural area too, and although my ob doesn't use the service, there is a floating r.e. who comes up once a month to see patients.

the closest r.e./art clinic is 4 hours away.

in my opinion, it is better to go right to the clinic. its kind of a pain, but totally worth it, because at the clinic, you'll be dealing with the same staff, staff who know specifically about infertility treatments, staff that know how to read u/s scans specifically for infertility purposes, and alot of the work/labwork is done right there, in the clinic... less phone tag, less getting lost in the translation.

if the clinic knows you are travelling a great distance to get there, you can ask them to bundle your specific appointments, like, they will schedule you so you can get blooswork done, tests, consults, etc etc. and, depending on where your clinic is, i am sure there are some low cost hotels nearby for when you can't get an afternoon appt. we had many early am appts. and we just got a cheapey room the night before and drove down early.

i had a friend who used the floating r.e for a while, but she ended up at the clinic anyway. if you are going to get any complicated treatment, you'll probably need to be at the clinic anyway.

i guess it depends on where you are in the whole process. if you are in the diagnostic stage, i guess having the floating r.e. order up some tests at the local hospital would be fine. my experience with lab techs and u/s techs at my local hospital, they just were not adept at looking for the kinds of things i needed them to look for... took them longer because they just don't do those kinds of scan that often... and i didn't have a lot of confidence that the results they got were really 100% correct because of that (and then you get into paying all that $$, you want to feel confident that you are getting the best of care). at the clinic, they are doing these tests 20 times a day every day. and the nurses know a lot about everything, so when you are there, you can ask everyone a ton of questions, right there... no waiting for anyone to gte back to you from another office. but that doesn't mean your local hospital can't do the monitoring or testing perfectly adequately, it just means you have to put up with a revolving cast of techs (and they always have very subtle differences in the way they read the scans).. and then have to wait for the info to go from this office to that office and then back to you.

that's just my preference... you'll know what is right for you when you start doing it!

[gumby74]

With DS I was first being monitored by my reg. OB who didn't really know what she was doing or what was going on with my body. She put me on clomid for five cycles and then transfered me to a IF clinic. Immediately this doctor took control and the first cycle with him after trying for four years.....I was pg and the pregnancy stayed. When I was 33 weeks pg, we moved about 3.5 hours away from that IF doc. So, when it was time to ttc again I had to look for another doc. I started out with my new OB, who reccomended I see a doctor in the same network who had "infertility experience." I met with him and he was a moron who didn't know anything. I knew more about my issues than he did. After a rather unpleasant conversation with his nurse, she told me to call a local hospital where there were more doctors who would be able to help. What I learned from the new doctor was that my "issues" were too complex for them, but there was a traveling RE who visits their hospital every three months. The traveling RE was awesome and provided me with concrete ideas and solutions. Since his home clinic was farther away, I chose to stay with my clinic and have them follow his plan. In retrospect, I wish I would have driven to his home clinic. The clinic I was at was a joke. No one could seem to keep any of my information straight and although the RE assured me that the nurses I would be working with knew what they were talking about....they didn't. I have never witnessed a bigger circus. Thankfully, I was able to get pg without much intervention from them, but I will never go back there again. As soon as I had my viability US, I switched back to my reg OB at a different clinic. I wish I would have been able to stay with my orginal clinic 3.5 hours away. They were so much more knowledgeable and understood what I was going through. Whenever I called, my questions were answered quickly and accurately. Something I never felt happened this time around. I hope some of this info help. Best wishes....

[Jelinifer]

Gumby and Soulshine: Thank you for such informative replies!