(028) The Emerging Role of Telehealth in Sexual Medicine: A Survey of Patient Attitudes

Abstract

Abstract Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it an increase of healthcare interactions on an electronic interface, but a return to in-person interactions has left many questions open regarding the future utility and viability thereof. Urologic care, and particularly sexual health, frequently involves sensitive issues and understanding patients’ attitudes is imperative to determine how to incorporate telemedicine in the future. Objective This study seeks to characterize patients’ overall perspective on telehealth services in a sexual medicine setting to identify patient preferences and satisfaction with the use of telehealth services. Methods An electronic survey was sent through REDCap to patients who had at least one telehealth visit with a provider in our tertiary referral center since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The accrued patient cohort was sent a 15-question four-pronged survey assessing the purpose of the visit, the patient-provider relationship and communication, the perceived quality of care, and the patient’s overall satisfaction on a 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistical analysis was done using REDCap. Results We surveyed 4071 patients and received 771 (18.9%) responses. Of those who replied, 470 (61%) were seen for hypogonadism, 216 (28%) for erectile dysfunction, 50 (6.5%) for infertility, and 35 (4.5%) for Peyronie’s. A majority of patients (78.4%) ‘moderately’ or ‘strongly’ agreed that they are able to maintain a physician-patient relationship, are comfortable with telehealth use for new and follow-up visits alike and perceive a comparable quality of care when averaged across all questions in these sections. 613 (79.5%) of patients reported being ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ satisfied with their telehealth visits and 513 (66.6%) patients would prefer a telehealth visit over an in-person in the future. Conclusions The results of this study indicate that patients are generally satisfied with telehealth visits, and it would likely be in the best interest for physicians and their patients to increasingly adopt telehealth solutions. The data further suggests that patients with certain diagnoses are less likely to prefer telehealth than others, though a more rigorous statistical analysis is needed once additional patient responses are received. Disclosure Any of the authors act as a consultant, employee or shareholder of an industry for: Consultant for AbbVie, Marius, Tolmar, Endo, Petros, Boston Scientific, Coloplast Investor: Sprout.