Early experience with shared medical appointments for penile problems

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Urology
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Penile problems in children require effective patient education and counseling.
• Traditional one-on-one appointments face increasing provider demands.
• Shared medical appointments (SMA) are an alternative healthcare delivery model.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of shared medical appointments (SMA) for educating and counseling families of children with penile problems.
• To compare patient education and satisfaction in SMA versus traditional appointment settings.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study design was employed over 4 months.
• Forty-eight families were included: 21 in the SMA group and 27 in the traditional care group.
• A questionnaire assessed the adequacy of patient education.

Main Results:

• No significant difference was found in overall education adequacy scores between the SMA and traditional groups (mean 6.64/7 vs. 6.56/7).
• Both groups reported high levels of satisfaction with the educational content.
• The study demonstrated comparable educational outcomes in both settings.

Conclusions:

• Shared medical appointments (SMA) provide an efficient and effective alternative for educating children with penile problems.
• SMAs can help manage increasing patient loads without negatively impacting family education or satisfaction.
• This model offers a viable solution for improving healthcare efficiency in pediatric urology.