specialty focus
Fertile grounds for nursing
Catherine Bellantonio with a patient. Photo: Genea
A
We talk to a
fertility nurse
about the
highs and lows
of working
in this rapidly
changing field.
Catherine Bellantonio
interviewed by
Dallas Bastian
s part of our effort to spotlight the work of
nurses across the country, Nursing Review
sits down with Catherine Bellantonio, who
has worked at IVF and fertility clinic Genea for the
past seven years.
In the interview, Bellantonio, a nurse coordinator,
details the intricacies of speaking with fertility care
patients and the technological advancements she’s
been happy to see.
Assisted reproductive technology is a constantly
changing field, Bellantonio says, and being up
to date with the science involved is essential to
managing patient expectations at the beginning of
contact and as they proceed through treatment.
“Patients come to us already well informed; they
can find everything out on the internet,” Bellantonio
says. “So, as nurses, we need to have a broad range
of answers for the treatments available, not just
within Australia, but what is being offered all over
the world.”
12 | nursingreview.com.au
Bellantonio shares her advice on keeping up with
a rapidly changing industry and navigating complex
conversations.
NR: What drew you towards fertility care?
CB: It’s nothing I ever really considered when I was
at university. I always had an interest in women’s
health, and when I did my new graduate program,
I spent a bit of time in the operating theatres, and
also working on a postoperative gynaecological
ward, and I always knew that I enjoyed working with
women. I had a big interest in the science behind
it all, as well, and the biology involved. I did two
years of general nursing and then decided to go into
fertility nursing, and I’ve been here ever since.
So just over seven-and-a-half years now, I’ve been
working for Genea. I worked in the day surgery unit
for the first four years, and that gave me the ability
to work up a rapport with the doctors and also the
scientists in the lab. Then three years ago, I started