Is ectopic pregnancy the leading cause of women's infertility?

[lpn2rnstudent]

I took an exam today and there was a true false question worded something like 'ectopic pregnancy is the leading cause of maternal death and the leading cause of infertility'.

I chose false.

I got the question wrong.

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

Threads merged for continuity.

[lpn2rnstudent, LPN, RN]

Threads merged for continuity.

Thanks!

I did not realize that the thread I created yesterday still existed.

Sorry, I am new to this. :)

[mcbismark]

IMHO:

If the 2 points do not change your letter grade give them up.

It is only 2 points and you know you are correct (which to me would be the important part).

Hopefully this is not the 1st time you have run into an instructor that does read well and can not formulate a question based on their textbook.

You can only hope that this is the last time...

Good luck though!

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

No problem.

Good luck with all of this.

[NoviceRN10]

My textbook states that ectopic pregnancy is a leading cause of infertility in women, but not the leading cause. My textbook states that ectopic pregnancy is the leading cause of death in the first trimester, but not the leading cause of maternal deaths.

*sigh*

I find that data from your book hard to believe. How many women do you know have had an ectopic pregnancy? I personally only know one out of the hundreds of people I know. I don't think they are common at all.

[Jolie, BSN]

I find that data from your book hard to believe. How many women do you know have had an ectopic pregnancy? I personally only know one out of the hundreds of people I know. I don't think they are common at all.

I think the textbook information is probably accurate. Ectopic pregnancies don't have to be terribly common to be among the leading (known) causes of infertility and maternal death.

In most cases, the cause of infertility is never identified. So ectopic pregnancies don't have to be common to be among the leading known causes of infertility. Most posters seem to agree that ovulatory dysfunction is the leading known cause of infertility. PID is probably the second, and is linked to ectopic pregnancy, although not in every case. Ectopic pregnancy may well be the third, fourth or fifth most common cause, which would still place it among the leading cause of infertility.

Similarly, deaths from ectopic pregnancy, while relatively rare, are still among the leading cause of maternal deaths. Any maternal death is rare, so a particular cause doesn't have to happen very often to place it in the top 5. While maternal deaths from hypertensive disorders, hemorrhage and surgical complications are more common, deaths from ectopic pregnancy are probably in the top 5.

And, BTW, a history of infertility raises one's risk of ectopic pregnancy. I wonder if that was the link the instructor was trying to make in this poorly-worded question.

[NoviceRN10]

If the statement said that the leading infertility-related cause of maternal death was an ectopic pregnancy, that would make more sense.

[vashtee, RN]

I think unless you think those two points will make a difference in your overall grade, it will probably be easier to just forget about it. If you bump this up to the next level, your professor will probably be very unhappy with you, and your future professors will no doubt hear about you.

I had a professor who had poorly-worded questions on every exam. We had to learn to guess at what answer she was looking for based on our reading of the textbook. Once we took this approach, her exams were easier to ace.

[lpn2rnstudent, LPN, RN]

Thanks everyone for your replies and good advice.

I think what bothers me the most is that I am spending a great deal of money for this program to be taught accurate information and how my professor can defend her inaccurate data on the exam is just beyond me.

I need to stop worrying about the 2 lousy points and keep my eye on the prize. The test that matters is the NCLEX. I know that if there is a question on the NCLEX about ectopic pregnancy, female infertility or causes of maternal death I will get the question right. Unfortunately due to my professor's incompetence as an instructor I cannot say as much for the remainder of my class.

That is a failure on her part.

Thanks for letting me vent!

[IrishIzCPNP, MSN, RN, APRN, NP]

We just talked about this.

I can tell you that ecoptic is the leading cause in the first trimester. That does not mean the leading cause of death.

I believe that was discussed that hemorrhage was the leading cause of death in pregnancy all together.

So without knowing the exact wording I won't say "she's wrong" but if she didn't say first trimester I would go with "she's wrong".

So that alone is an issue.

Can you ask her where this information came from? If it's not in the text or in the notes can she test on this information? In my school the answer to that question is no. They must test on the syllabus with questions lining with "expected outcomes" (this is what is expected of us).

[future L&Dnurse]

I wouldn't necessarily look at it as "she's wrong and incompetent." I think a better way to look at this is "she's not necessarily really good at writing questions that ask what she really wants to ask" and make sure you read and re-read the questions to figure out what she is REALLY asking. FWIW, I tried to re-word her question to make it read the way I think it was meant to (so you looked at both, and not one or the other), and it's a crappy true or false question. It really would have been better as a multiple choice ... such as "which condition is a leading cause of both infertility and maternal death during pregnancy?"

[lpn2rnstudent, LPN, RN]

We just talked about this.

I can tell you that ecoptic is the leading cause in the first trimester. That does not mean the leading cause of death.

I believe that was discussed that hemorrhage was the leading cause of death in pregnancy all together.

So without knowing the exact wording I won't say "she's wrong" but if she didn't say first trimester I would go with "she's wrong".

So that alone is an issue.

Yeah the question was worded "Ectopic pregnancy is the leading cause of maternal death and the leading cause of female infertility"

You are absolutely correct. Ectopic pregnancy is the leading cause of maternal death in the first trimester. But it is not the leading cause of maternal death as your pointed out.

Can you ask her where this information came from? If it's not in the text or in the notes can she test on this information? In my school the answer to that question is no. They must test on the syllabus with questions lining with "expected outcomes" (this is what is expected of us).

Well she said that the question is a test out of the test bank from our book.

In our textbook it states that ectopic pregnancy is a leading cause of infertility, not the leading cause.

Our textbook states that ectopic pregnancy is the leading cause of death in the first trimester, which is in fact true. But it does not say it is the leading cause of death.

The key to getting this question correct is differentiating between 'a' and 'the'. My instructor is a successful, highly educated person. I cannot imagine that she has been able to get to where she is without being able to do this.

Oh well.