Urology NP on how she discusses sensitive issues with patients
"For [men] to come to the practice and talk about [a sensitive issue] is a big step," says Adity Dutta, MSN, AGACNP-BC.
In this video, Adity Dutta, MSN, AGACNP-BC, shares how she handles discussing sensitive issues with patients. Dutta is a nurse practitioner with Georgia Urology.
Transcription:
Many urologic issues can be sensitive. How do you approach patient education, especially for conditions that may cause embarrassment or anxiety?
As a female provider in a urology practice where we see men's health and men's sexual health, it's sometimes hard for them to accept and navigate that challenge. Coming to the practice, telling a female provider with all due respect, talking about it is important and is vital. For them to come to the practice and talk about it is a big step. And from that point on, clinically, we are looking at the patient, but at the same token, you're looking at their overall psychological, behavioral, environmental issues/causes. So it's a huge thing for us to navigate and to direct treatment options to go from there. I would say that erectile dysfunction is a big one. And by the same token, if the patient is coming with erectile dysfunction, and there is some baseline hypogonadism involved, those are the things that we need to be mindful and bring into the attention and understand and ask the right question, to know exactly where the problem is stemming from. So those are the challenges we face. But by the same token, we need to make sure we are making the patient comfortable first, so that we can definitely work as a team because this is the first time they're coming in. They're going to be coming here for a long time. So we have to establish a trusting relationship. And that's important.
This transcription was edited for clarity.
