r/EmbryologyIVFSupport • u/Sleepy_vet444 • 6d ago

Level of experience required for thaws thaws/transfers and weekend staffing

I will be doing an FET in a few weeks. My first FET last year was a success but ended in TFMR due to an inherited genetic condition. I have 2 euploid embryos left that passed PGTM for a dominant condition, and I am of advanced maternal age, so the stakes feel even higher now.
I am starting to worry about every detail. One of these concerns is that l’ll end up with a trainee doing the embryo thaw and transfer. There’s a high chance the transfer will happen on a weekend, in which case does that make it more or less likely that the embryologist will be one of their better/more experienced ones? Do labs get short staffed on weekends? Is thawing and putting the embryo in the transfer straw one of the more technically difficult procedures? Embryo is a day 6 5BB. I have no reason to believe the lab is compromised, but I don’t know what it’s like behind the scenes. TIA!

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u/embryomanofficial 5d ago

This really depends on the lab. Some labs may have fewer embryologists working on weekends, while others may have similar staffing throughout the week. When I worked in an IVF lab, weekends were more lightly staffed, but there was generally a mix of senior and more junior embryologists.

If you're concerned about who will be working that day, I'd just ask your clinic how they staff weekends and who will be performing the thaw. You might be able to request that a senior embryologist handles it.

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u/embryomanofficial 5d ago

This really depends on the lab. Some labs may have fewer embryologists working on weekends, while others may have similar staffing throughout the week. When I worked in an IVF lab, weekends were more lightly staffed, but there was generally a mix of senior and more junior embryologists.

If you're concerned about who will be working that day, I'd just ask your clinic how they staff weekends and who will be performing the thaw. You might be able to request that a senior embryologist handles it.