Primary Care Clinicians' Knowledge and Perspectives about Sexual Dysfunction.

Area of Science:

• Women's Health
• Primary Care Medicine
• Sexual Health

Background:

• Female sexual dysfunction (FSD) affects 12% of US women, encompassing issues with desire, arousal, orgasm, or pain.
• Despite FSD's manageability in primary care, most clinicians do not regularly treat it.

Purpose of the Study:

• Assess primary care clinicians' perspectives on managing FSD compared to other conditions.
• Evaluate their knowledge of FSD prevalence and opinions on which specialty should manage it.

Main Methods:

• A survey was distributed to primary care clinicians within a large US health system.
• Eighty clinicians completed the survey (15% response rate), with most being women (68%) and physicians (52%).

Main Results:

• 88% of clinicians believe treating FSD is as important as managing other quality-of-life conditions.
• Two-thirds felt desire, arousal, and orgasm disorders are manageable in primary care.
• 64% believed pain with intercourse should also be managed in primary care, though some felt it belongs to other specialties.

Conclusions:

• Primary care clinicians largely recognize the importance of treating FSD.
• A significant portion still believe FSD management falls outside their scope, suggesting a need for targeted education.
• Educational interventions could empower more primary care clinicians to manage FSD.