Nurse Practitioner Knowledge and Treatment Choices for Chronic Unexplained Orchialgia

• Provides important insight into nurse practitioner (NP) management patterns for a historically underdescribed male chronic pain population.
• This is the first study to report an estimated prevalence specifically for chronic unexplained orchialgia (CUO) within a patient population, for any group of providers. The prevalence of men with CUO in the clinical population of the complete NP sample was 2.12%, whereas CUO prevalence was 3.57% in the clinical population of urology-focused NPs and 1.77% in the clinical population of generalist NPs.
• Offers insight into NP knowledge about a specific urologic, chronic pain and men’s health issue in a sample representative of the current NP population as a whole.
• Findings suggest that a urology focus, a longer time in practice, and more clinical experience managing urology patients influenced the different management approach seen with urology-focused NPs, which is closer to a chronic pain management perspective.
• Adds to the body of data describing specialty NP practice in urology.

Chronic pain, men's urology, and men's genital health issues are traditionally unrepresented in nurse practitioner (NP) curricula. This descriptive study compared 2 groups of NPs and their knowledge and treatment choices for an understudied male chronic pain condition: chronic unexplained orchialgia. The characteristics of the study population (n = 396) mirrored the NP population as a whole, and treatment and referral patterns mirrored suspected causes for both groups. The study findings reflect the growing specialization of NPs, suggesting that a urology focus and longer time in practice contributes to a more contemporary approach to identification and management of this condition.