In a , Jenny Murase, MD, reported at the annual congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.
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“In Germany, the UK, and the United States, dermatologists face challenges in discussing pregnancy and child-bearing aspiration with women of reproductive age, in recommending compatible treatments during pregnancy, and engaging patients in the shared decision-making process. These challenges may exist due to suboptimal knowledge, skills, confidence, and attitude in respective areas of care,” said Dr. Murase, a dermatologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and coeditor-in-chief of the International Journal of Women’s Dermatology.
Dr. Jenny E. Murase
These shortcomings were documented in a survey, which began with Dr. Murase and her coinvestigators conducting detailed, 45-minute-long, semistructured telephone interviews with 24 dermatologists in the three countries. Those interviews provided the basis for subsequent development of a 20-minute online survey on psoriasis and pregnancy completed by 167 American, German, and UK dermatologists. The survey incorporated multiple choice questions and quantitative rating scales.
“Participants expressed challenges engaging in family planning counseling and reproductive health care as part of risk assessments for psoriasis,” Dr. Murase said.
Among the key findings:
- Forty-seven percent of respondents considered their knowledge of the impact of psoriasis on women’s reproductive health to be suboptimal. This knowledge gap was most common among American dermatologists, 59% of whom rated themselves as having suboptimal knowledge, and least common among German practitioners, only 27% of whom reported deficiencies in this area.
Fifty percent of dermatologists rated themselves as having suboptimal skills in discussing contraceptive methods with their psoriasis patients of childbearing potential.
- Forty-eight percent of respondents – and 59% of the American dermatologists – indicated they prefer to leave pregnancy-related discussions to ob.gyns.
- Fifty-five percent of dermatologists had only limited knowledge of the safety data and indications for prescribing biologic therapies before, during, and after pregnancy. Respondents gave themselves an average score of 58 out of 100 in terms of their confidence in prescribing biologics during pregnancy, compared to 74 out of 100 when prescribing before or after pregnancy.
- Forty-eight percent of participants indicated they had suboptimal skills in helping patients counter obstacles to treatment adherence.
Consideration of treatment of psoriasis in pregnancy requires balancing potential medication risks to the fetus versus the possible maternal and fetal harms of under- or nontreatment of their chronic inflammatory skin disease. It’s a matter that calls for shared decision-making between dermatologist and patient. But the survey showed that shared decision-making was often poorly integrated into clinical practice. Ninety-seven percent of the U.S. dermatologists were unaware of the existence of shared decision-making practice guidelines or models, as were 80% of UK respondents and 85% of the Germans. Of the relatively few dermatologists who were aware of such guidance, nearly half dismissed it as inapplicable to their clinical practice. More than one-third of respondents admitted having suboptimal skills in assessing their patients’ desired level of involvement in medical decisions. And one-third of the German dermatologists and roughly one-quarter of those from the United States and United Kingdom reported feeling pressure to make treatment decisions quickly and without patient input.
Dr. Murase added that the survey findings make a strong case for future interventions designed to help dermatologists appreciate the value of shared decision-making and develop the requisite patient-engagement skills. Dr. Murase reported serving as a paid consultant to UCB Pharma, which funded the survey via an educational grant.