Sexual Health & Wellness in Primary Care

In his PUPC 2024 session, “Sexual Health & Wellness in Primary Care", Ryan Holley-Mallo, PhD, DNP, NP-C discusses the ways to approach sensitive conversations pertaining to sexual health. How do you start the conversation? What if the patient is avoiding the subject? In his session, he also provides the necessary tools to help clinicians care for their patients as well as help patients gain a better understanding of their own sexual health..

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For more information about PUPC 2024 Virtual Series and to register for upcoming sessions, visit https://www.hmpglobalevents.com/pupc.

TRANSCRIPTION:

I’m Dr Holley-Mallow, and I just want to say thank you for taking the time to join me in that last session. If you'll give me just one more minute of your time, and you can even time me, I'm going to run through some of the salient points of our presentation—kind of like wrap it up, take it home.

So first, sexual health inventories can help. Second ED meds are not all created equal. Understanding the half-life and onset to medications that you choose for your patients will make a significant difference in determining which medication to prescribe. Some patients might not even be great candidates for meds, so injections or maybe even surgery is an option for your patient. Remember that there's not a one-size-fits all when it comes to taking care of our patients.

Prostate medications, they're similar. The choice of an alpha blocker will definitely depend on your patient's age. Their comorbidities, and the adverse event profile of the meds they're already on and the ones that you're going to choose, are important.

Long-acting alpha-1 blockers, including terazosin and doxazosin must be titrated slowly to avoid hypotension from that first onset. You may decide to add an anticholinergic to alpha-1 blockers, but mainly in patients that have bladder storage issues.

Finally, surgery that spares the prostate, such as a UroLift procedure, may be right for your patient that's experiencing significant difficulty with BPH.

Lastly, PrEP is now primary care. You should be providing primary care to your patients in your community that practice higher risk sexual practices and have them have timely access to medication that will help prevent further exacerbation, morbidity, and mortality.

Thank you again so much for joining me. It was a pleasure learning with and from you.