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Knowledge gap exists in adolescent STD treatment
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Pediatric residents were not adequately trained to address recurrent sexually transmitted infections in adolescents, according to study results published in Pediatrics.
Anne Hsii, MD, and colleagues from Stanford University School of Medicine surveyed 289 pediatric residents online from 14 California residency programs. The new physicians receiving specialty training in pediatric medicine were asked about their knowledge of expedited partner therapy (EPT), the laws associated with the therapy and their comfort level using the approach.
EPT laws, enacted in California in 2001 and 2007, authorized physicians to prescribe antibiotics to the partners of patients infected with chlamydia or gonorrhea without seeing the partner. It is recommended, but not mandated, that health care providers offer counseling and educational materials along with the prescription.
Most (83%) of the pediatric residents surveyed had diagnosed a STI in the adolescent and young adult population. Hsii and colleagues found that 22% of pediatric residents reported being moderately or very familiar with EPT, and most of them correctly identified the methods associated with the approach. However, only 8% were aware of California state laws regarding EPT. Although 69% knew that state law allowed prescribing antibiotics to treat both chlamydia and gonorrhea in the partners of patients diagnosed with the diseases, 38% incorrectly reported that EPT can be used to treat trichomoniasis.
Results also showed that almost half of pediatric residents surveyed never provided EPT to adolescents, and 30% of those who did provide EPT were not comfortable doing so.
Pediatric residents working in programs with an adolescent medicine fellowship had greater knowledge of EPT than residents without adolescent medicine fellowships (P=.037), and they were also more likely to provide EPT (P=.018), more likely to have written a prescription for a patient’s sexual partner in the patient’s name (P=.005) and more likely to have provided the antibiotic directly to the patient to present to the sexual partner (P=.002).
“Our findings demonstrate a need to improve EPT education for all pediatric residents, especially in programs without an adolescent medicine fellowship,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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