von Büren Moritz, Wülfing Christian, Schlager Daniel, Träger Max Michael, Daoud Marcel, Schröder Florian, Brookman-May Sabine D, Gratzke Christian, von Büren Johannes
Department of Urology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Department of Urology, Asklepios Klinik Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
Telemed Rep. 2023 Jun 13;4(1):118-125. doi: 10.1089/tmr.2023.0010. eCollection 2023.
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) online prescription platforms (OPP) for sexual health represent a potential paradigm shift in the diagnosis and treatment for sexual dysfunctions in the way men seek care. Knowledge of patients' risk profile using these platforms is limited.
To assess risk profiles of patients reaching out to health care professionals through their DTC.
Anonymized data originally collected between February 2021 to May 2022 by a DTC platform in the men's health care space were retrospectively analyzed. Data included the content of patient requests through a communication function, as well as the corresponding responses by the attending physician on staff. Each request was then assessed by two independent urologists and categorized by the level of the risk profile as well as the need to refer the patient to further medical evaluation.
Of 585 patient requests, 531 (90.8%) were classified as low risk. In the high-risk group, 32 patients were recommended to schedule an urgent appointment at a specialist. Only three patients (0.5%) were advised to seek emergency care. The overall referral rate for both risk groups was 52.3%. The requests of 279 patients (47.7%) were assessed as digitally treatable. Almost all patients who were digitally treatable were low risk. Side effects accounted for only 9.6% of all requests in the low-risk group, compared with 46.3% in the high-risk group.
Overall, low-risk levels in the requests of patients using a DTC platform were reported, with almost half of them suitable to be solved digitally, whereas the other half required referral to an in-person specialist.
用于性健康的直接面向消费者（DTC）的在线处方平台（OPP）代表了男性寻求性健康问题诊断和治疗方式的潜在范式转变。关于使用这些平台的患者风险状况的了解有限。
评估通过DTC与医疗保健专业人员联系的患者的风险状况。
回顾性分析了2021年2月至2022年5月期间由一个男性医疗保健领域的DTC平台最初收集的匿名数据。数据包括通过通信功能的患者请求内容，以及主治医生的相应回复。然后由两名独立的泌尿科医生对每个请求进行评估，并根据风险状况级别以及将患者转介进行进一步医学评估的必要性进行分类。
在585个患者请求中，531个（90.8%）被归类为低风险。在高风险组中，32名患者被建议安排在专科医生处进行紧急预约。只有三名患者（0.5%）被建议寻求急诊护理。两个风险组的总体转诊率为52.3%。279名患者（47.7%）的请求被评估为可通过数字方式治疗。几乎所有可通过数字方式治疗的患者都是低风险。副作用在低风险组的所有请求中仅占9.6%，而在高风险组中占46.3%。
总体而言，报告显示使用DTC平台的患者请求风险水平较低，其中近一半适合通过数字方式解决，而另一半则需要转介给专科医生进行面诊。
