Magdalena Depa-Martynow: The Role of Psychological Safety in IVF Labs
Magdalena Depa-Martynow, Director, Global Clinical Science and Education at Nexpring Health,, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“What If Embryos Need Psychological Safety Too?
What if IVF outcomes and IVF team performance were influenced by more than patients infertility factors, lab procedures, disposables, equipment, and embryo culture conditions?
What if IVF results were also shaped by the quality of the work environment experienced by embryologists and clinicians — specifically, their level of psychological safety?
The Aristotle Project
Google conducted an extensive study analyzing 180 teams and 250 variables to understand why some teams consistently outperform others.
The strongest and most reliable predictor of high‑performing teams was psychological safety – the shared belief that team members can speak openly, ask questions, admit mistakes, and propose ideas without fear of embarrassment or punishment. Psychological safety is not a ‘nice-to-have.’ It is a measurable results driver.
Why Does It Matter?
Google found that low psychological safety leads to impression management – people focus more on how they are perceived than on solving real problems. As a result, they: avoid reporting errors, hesitate to propose ideas, avoid difficult conversations, do not challenge poor decisions.
Teams with high psychological safety behave very differently – and perform significantly better.
Now, a Question for Embryologists
In your IVF laboratory:
- Are you encouraged to bring new ideas to your manager?
- Can you raise difficult issues without fear of negative consequences?
- Do you feel safe questioning a proposed solution or decision made by a senior colleague?
- Can you report a mistake without fear of being blamed or dismissed?
- What if you could openly share improvement ideas, discuss concerns transparently, learn from mistakes without fear, and respectfully challenge decisions when you believe a different approach is needed?
After searching the available literature, it appears that not much data exists on psychological safety and work environment conditions in IVF laboratories.
To address this gap, I kindly invite all embryologists to participate in a fully anonymous survey.
Your insights will help us better understand the current work environment in IVF clinics and how it may influence IVF outcomes, if any?!
Your voice matters — and it may help shape safer, more effective, and more supportive IVF laboratories worldwide.
Survey Participation Guidelines
- This survey is intended only for embryologists currently working in IVF laboratories.
- You may complete the survey more than once if you work with multiple clinics, but please submit only one response per clinic.
- The survey is fully anonymous.
- No email addresses, names, or identifying personal details are collected at any stage.
- Please answer honestly based on your own experience within your laboratory team.
- Your participation is voluntary, and you may stop at any time.
Survey Link.
Thank you,
Magdalena”
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