IVF Product Reviews - Laboratory Equipment

Page Views: 2316
Date Added: 25 February 2008


IVF Witness

From the world leaders in IVF RFID technology comes IVF Witness a revolutionary new product that will change IVF forever. IVF Witness eliminates human error throughout the IVF procedure and gives ultimate peace of mind to both the IVF unit and the patient. Eliminates sample identification errors and mix-ups Tracks patient samples throughout the IVF procedure Automatic sample matching, no extra steps required Removes the need for double witnessing Witness report generation at the touch of a button Heated stage for dish temperature control 100% read reliability Utilising RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, IVF Witness tracks the sperm and oocytes throughout the IVF process, ensuring that the resulting embryo is transferred to the correct patient. If at any time the wrong samples are introduced into the work area, IVF Witness warns the laboratory personnel both visually and audibly. IVF Witness therefore eliminates human error during the IVF procedure. How does it work? IVF Witness workstations are placed at all work areas in the lab. The readers automatically detect RFID labels which are attached to all labware: culture dishes, test tubes, patient identity bracelets, i.d. cards etc. The IVF Witness system then assigns and tracks the patient identity through the IVF procedure until the embryos are implanted. Unlike barcode systems, every step of the IVF procedure is detected without any requirement from the embryologist. The embryologist simply verifies each step, negating the need for double witnessing by a colleague. Incorrect samples If an incorrect sample is brought into the work area it will be detected by IVF Witness. An alarm will sound and an error report will be generated. The report will show the time, date and operator details as well as indicating how long the incorrect sample was in the working area. Why RFID? Methods currently employed to match patients sperm and oocytes are prone to human error. IVF Witness uses RFID technology to provide a level of security that eradicates these errors. Each step in the IVF procedure is automatically logged using the IVF Witness readers. IVF Witness can be installed at any work area. The IVF Witness workstation consists of a large heated stage which includes the RFID Reader and the option of the integrated stage or the bench top stage, as shown on the front of this brochure. The system also includes a PC with a link to existing IVF databases and a PDA for remote witnessing (e.g. for patient confirmation). Exact hardware configuration will be customised for each IVF laboratory. What is RFID? RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) are small microchips embedded into labels. These labels are attached to all devices linked to a particular patient: culture dishes, test tubes, patient identity cards etc. These microchips broadcast tiny signals that are read by the IVF Witness sensors. There is no need to directly scan the labels, the whole process is automatic.

Available from:
Research Instruments

Additional photos

Screenshot

Visitors reviews (1)

write a review
IVF Witness – a personal view by Shaun Kelly, Laboratory Director at Overlake Reproductive Health in Bellevue, Seattle

When a patient comes into a fertility clinic and hands over a sperm sample or has eggs retrieved, they are putting a great deal of trust in the staff of the clinic. The truth of the matter is that no matter how professional the staff, or how good the reputation of the clinic, a lot of patients still have worries. Unfortunately, over the years the Press has shown that errors do occur on occasion, which only adds fuel to the concerns of the patients.

The IVF Witness System – the only system in the world that uses Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID) - can provide peace of mind to both patients and staff working in the clinic. It shows the patient that you are aware of their concerns and are taking steps to remove that extra worry by adding security to your laboratory.

Most laboratories have taken the time and the effort to put into place systems that address the need to have a strict chain of custody as far as sperm, eggs and embryos are concerned. They have also hired and trained competent staff members who are fully capable of maintaining the strict level of control needed when handling samples. These things are all very important, and should not be taken lightly. It is also important to understand that the IVF Witness System is not meant to take the place of such steps, but can only work in conjunction with them.

I first saw the IVF Witness System at an ASRM conference, and was interested - but not to the point of convincing my physician to make a purchase. I also had numerous discussions with other embryologists about it – and most of those discussions were negative.

A lot of people were worried that it would only be used because they were not being trusted, and many thought that it could be used as a device to ‘catch out’ staff members making a mistake. I feel that both of these worries are unfounded, as it still requires a large amount of care and attention to detail in order to maintain the integrity of the samples. Although the system will record mismatches and indicate which staff member made the mistake, it should be pointed out that it also indicates how many times a staff member does not make a mistake, and highlights the attention to detail that they are showing.

Many people also indicated that they thought it would send out a message to patients that the clinic was worried that they didn’t have enough safeguards in place to maintain the integrity of the samples, and that they were using the IVF Witness System to take the place of competent staff members. By talking with many of our patients after we introduced IVF Witness I think that this is an easy concern to address. I have only heard positive feedback from our patients when the system has been explained to them. We tell them that it is not being introduced because we have had any problems, but strictly as an extra level of security on our already secure system. Patients really seem to feel more relaxed knowing that we are using an electronic system to control the integrity of the samples, and they also like the fact that they have some control over what is happening as they introduce the card into the system and then again at the end when they have either their embryo transfer or their insemination. This has also proven especially useful in the case of new patients or patients from outside offices that have not yet had the chance to develop a good rapport with our staff.

Yet another concern was the amount of extra work that using the tags and the system in general would put onto staff members. Once the system has been installed and after a very short period of adjustment, there is very little extra work involved. The tags themselves are very easy to apply, and take very little extra time to put in place. The readers are situated in the work area, and so do not involve any extra steps for them to read the samples – just carrying out your work in the correct area of the laboratory sets the process in motion.

There is no keyboard involved; everything is done by touch screen, with just a few prompts that need to be followed to register each step of the process. These are very simple to understand, and in fact for the most part are set in place by the user. Also, these tags have been extensively tested and have been shown not to have any detrimental effects on embryo development.

My real push to get the system installed in our facility was from the patient satisfaction angle. I have heard over the years a large number of patients say that they are worried that their samples may get mixed up, and even though they can be reassured by outlining all the steps that we take to ensure that this doesn’t happen (double witnessing, not having more than one sample in the work area at a time etc) up until this system became available there has never been any concrete way of putting their minds at rest. I certainly feel that we are now doing absolutely everything that we can to satisfy our patients worries, and numerous patients have informed us that they feel better knowing that this safeguard is in place.

Each time an RFID tag is brought into the area of the reader, it is recognized by the system and its identity is displayed on the screen. This could either be an unknown tag or a previously allocated patient tag, which will indicate the identity of the item it is attached to (such as a sperm preparation tube or an embryo transfer dish). Once a patient tag is in the reader and an unknown tag is brought into the same work area, the identity of that tag can only be assigned to that specific patient, thus maintaining the integrity of the samples.

If a previously allocated tag is brought in from a different couple then the system will alert as such, and will not allow further action until the offending tags have been removed from the work area. In fact, you will not be able to carry out any other procedures until an explanation for the reason the mistake was made has been entered. The system will also register the amount of time that the ‘mismatched’ samples are in the work area together. This is useful to show that the samples were removed quickly, indicating that there was no time for a potential mix-up to occur.

Once the system has been installed in your facility you have to assign the various ‘witness points’ into the program. This is a totally customizable process which allows you to indicate at which steps of your procedures you want the system to allocate a dish or tube, when it needs to change the identity of a previously used dish or tube and will witness the introduction of sperm to eggs and track the movement of embryos from dish to dish.

All patients have to be entered into the IVF Witness program before they can proceed with treatment. Both parties of the couple are entered, and their identities are linked. By labeling all dishes and tubes with an RFID tag before they are first used, no item of culture ware can be used without being recognized by the system.

All procedures have an entry point at which the identity of the first item is allocated to the patient. That should be done in the presence of the patient, and can be by either an identity card that has already been allocated to the patient, or in the form of a tag that is designated to the male partner and stuck onto a sample pot. After that, all other items of culture ware derive their identity based on the identity of a subsequently allocated item.

All work stations have an RFID reader placed in them, and so every dish or tube is recognized by the IVF Witness program. When an unidentified tag comes into the reader at the same time as an already identified tag, then the only identity that it can be given is that of the identified tag. In that way we can only have dishes/tubes of one couple in the reader at any one time.

Other methods that clinics have employed to maintain a chain of custody for the samples can be troublesome. The manual double check system that some clinics use is open to a lot of difficulties, namely the fact that two members of staff are not always available, or if they are they could be too busy to pay close enough attention to make a proper and reliable witness. The bar code system relies on the samples being actually placed in front of a bar code reader which is not necessarily going to be in the same location as that in which the procedures are taking place. These dishes will then have to be taken back to the workstation without being mixed with other samples.

The RFID system has the readers actually built into the area where the procedures are taking place, and requires no actual deviation from normal laboratory procedures for them to be used.

I feel that this is much more flexible and appropriate for use in any size of IVF facility, and is a valuable tool to be used in conjunction with a competent staff manually witnessing samples themselves.

25 February 2008 - Shaun Kelly, Laboratory Director

IVF > Reviews > Laboratory Equipment

IVF Witness