Andrew Y. Sun, MD, on the role for APPs in men’s health

Author(s):

Key Takeaways

APPs manage non-surgical men's health procedures, including erectile dysfunction and low testosterone treatments, enhancing practice efficiency.
Tasks like TRIMIX injections, Xiaflex injections, and testosterone pellet insertions are performed by APPs, allowing surgeons to focus on surgeries.
Some practices have APPs conduct prostate biopsies, maximizing team members' roles and meeting high patient demand.
The strategy of utilizing APPs ensures that each healthcare provider works at the peak of their license, optimizing patient care delivery.

"I joke that on face value, the APPs work for me, but I feel like I'm really working for them, because they basically do everything except for the surgery," says Andrew Y. Sun, MD.

In this video, Andrew Y. Sun, MD, discusses the role for advanced practice providers (APPs) in the management of men’s health conditions. Sun presented a talk titled, “Men’s Health,” as part of the APPs Working Group session at the 2024 LUGPA Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Sun is the director of men’s health at Urology Partners of North Texas.

Video Transcript:

I joke that on face value, the APPs work for me, but I feel like I'm really working for them, because they basically do everything except for the surgery. So, in men's health, let's say erectile dysfunction, most people come in and they start Viagra, Cialis, they might do TRIMIX injections, penile duplex ultrasounds, all that's done by my APPs. Peyronie's disease evaluation, management, injection of Xiaflex, anything that doesn't need surgery, done by the APPs. Low testosterone management, which is entirely non-surgical, done by the APPs. My APPs, or I should say, the APPs that I work with, do all of the clinical procedures in our in our practice essentially: testosterone pellet insertions, Xiaflex injections, TRIMIX, duplex ultrasounds, cystoscopies for BPH, prostate biopsies.

Not many practices have APPs do prostate biopsies, and to be honest, we don't either. But I know many groups and some of the other members of the panel today, they have APPs that do all the prostate biopsies, essentially making it so that the surgeon gets involved when the patient is ready for surgery, allowing every member of the team to essentially work at the peak of their license, and therefore be able to treat more patients, because the demand is crazy.

This transcript was AI generated and edited by human editors for clarity.