Standard Operating Procedure Deviations in IVF: A Hidden Epidemic in Reproductive Medicine

While catastrophic IVF errors like sample mix-ups attract public and legal scrutiny, smaller deviations from Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) often escape attention despite being frequent and indicative of systemic weakness. This study reveals that 13% of IVF procedures analysed using the IMT Matcher system involved SOP deviations. These findings suggest that routine non-conformance is a critical but neglected aspect of reproductive medicine safety. By quantifying these silent failures across 414,500 procedures, this paper advocates for enhanced digital oversight and targeted staff training.