Improving notification of sexually transmitted infections: a quality improvement project and planned experiment.
نویسندگان
چکیده
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Inadequate follow-up of positive sexually transmitted infection (STI) test results is a gap in health care quality that contributes to the epidemic of STIs in adolescent women. The goal of this study was to improve our ability to contact adolescent women with positive STI test results after an emergency department visit. METHODS We conducted an interventional quality improvement project at a pediatric emergency department. Phase 1 included plan-do-study-act cycles to test interventions such as provider education and system changes. Phase 2 was a planned experiment studying 2 interventions (study cell phone and patient activation card), using a 2 × 2 factorial design with 1 background variable and 2 replications. Outcomes were: (1) the proportion of women aged 14 to 21 years with STI testing whose confidential telephone number was documented in the electronic medical record; (2) the proportion of STI positive women successfully contacted within 7 days. RESULTS Phase 1 interventions increased the proportion of records with a confidential number from 24% to 58% and the proportion contacted from 45% to 65%, and decreased loss to follow-up from 40% to 24%. In phase 2, the proportion contacted decreased after the electronic medical record system changed and recording of the confidential number decreased. Study interventions (patient activation card and study cell phone) had a synergistic effect on successful contact, especially when confidential numbers were less reliably documented. CONCLUSIONS Feasible and sustainable interventions such as improved documentation of a confidential number worked synergistically to increase our ability to successfully contact adolescent women with their STI test results.
منابع مشابه
The role of self-efficacy and relationship quality in partner notification by adolescents with sexually transmitted infections.
OBJECTIVE To evaluate the role of self-efficacy, anticipated negative consequences, and relationship quality in patient-initiated sex partner notification following treatment for sexually transmitted infections. SUBJECTS Two hundred forty-one 13- to 20-year-old subjects (83% women; 83% African American) diagnosed with gonorrhea, chlamydia, trichomonas, or nongonococcal urethritis. Subjects we...
متن کاملStatus of Service Provision Centers for Patients with Sexually Transmitted infections in Tehran, Kerman, Babol and Shiraz as Representatives of Iran’s Capital Cities in 2013
Background: Centers for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) play an important role in identifying, treating and preventing infections. Paying attention to equipment and human resources of these centers can increase the effectiveness of these activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of these centers in order to plan and improve the quality of services. Materials and...
متن کاملPartner notification for sexually transmitted diseases in Peru: knowledge, attitudes, and practices in a high-risk community.
OBJECTIVES Notification and treatment of sex partners after diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) is essential to reduce reinfection and further transmission. GOAL The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of partner notification and subsequent health-seeking behavior in a high-risk population in Lima, Peru. STUDY DESIGN STD-infected participants of an HIV/STD preve...
متن کاملPartner notification for sexually transmitted infections in the modern world: a practitioner perspective on challenges and opportunities
INTRODUCTION Our aim is to provide a practitioner perspective on approaches to partner notification (PN)dsome old, some newdwhich may improve the control of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, in a variety of settings. PN services support patients with STI/HIV in the difficult task of informing often unsuspecting partnersdpast or presentdof their possible exposure to an STI a...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
- Pediatrics
دوره 130 2 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2012