Robert Hoy, MPAS, PA-C, on clinical challenges in urology

In this interview, Robert D. Hoy, MPAS, PA-C, discusses some of the biggest clinical challenges that he faces in urology. Hoy is a physician assistant at Arizona Urology Specialists in Tucson.

Video Transcript:

Some of the challenges I think I face are those that many physicians face in urology. Like many fields that are affected by the aging population, there's a really high demand. There's just not enough providers with that demand. The challenge is to be able to increase the access to care and take the time necessary without negatively impacting your work/life balance by adding on multiple patients in order to see the demand that's there. So, there's some risk with burnout in that type of field, with that type of demand.

As a PA specifically, I see patients for all of our physicians within the group, which is kind of unique to our practice, as opposed to being assigned to just 1 urologist. While it's great to learn and establish themes and relationships with multiple urologists and get to learn from multiple perspectives and see different styles of practice and learn from that, it can also be a challenge to keep track of all their unique preferences and accommodating and reformatting notes to my style after I've seen the patient. In some sense, seeing a patient that's seen another urologist, I might see them, and though they're not a new patient to our practice, it's almost like I'm seeing a new patient, having to re-familiarize myself with their patient history if the notes aren't as detailed as I would have done when I saw the patient.

So, sometimes there's some difficulties with continuity of care, because I'm not the sole provider for that patient, and the patient can bounce back and forth or go between the physician and myself if they need a procedure or a surgery that only the physician can do, and then they're back following me for surveillance or monitoring or medical management. So, some of the challenges are explaining the patient why they might need to see me, they might need to see the physician, the nuances of that, our roles and responsibilities, and how we're involved in their care. Sometimes that can get complicated for patients and get confusing. It's always a challenge to help them understand who they're being seen by and why that might be the case.

This transcription has been edited for clarity.