Gonorrhea prevention and clinical care in the private sector: lessons learned and priorities for quality improvement

• Published in: Sexually transmitted diseases Vol. 33; no. 11; p. 652
• Main Authors: Tao, Guoyu, Irwin, Kathleen L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.11.2006
• Subjects: Diagnostic Tests, Routine - standards; Female; Gonorrhea - diagnosis; Gonorrhea - prevention & control; Humans; Male; Mass Screening - methods; Neisseria gonorrhoeae - immunology; Prevalence; Private Practice - standards; Quality Assurance, Health Care; Serologic Tests - standards; United States - epidemiology; United States
• ISSN: 0148-5717
• DOI: 10.1097/01.olq.0000216030.65618.0e

We reviewed literature on gonorrhea prevention and clinical care in the private sector, the setting where most gonorrhea cases in the United States are now diagnosed. Although most private-sector health settings had a low prevalence of gonorrhea (0.1-2.5%), some private emergency departments and specialty clinics that serve a large number of high-risk or infected patients had prevalences ranged from 1.7% to 11.0%. Studies of diverse settings and populations suggest that, in general, diagnostic testing of symptomatic patients (69-83%), appropriate treatment (61-100%), and case reporting (64-94%) are delivered more commonly than risk assessment for asymptomatic patients (15-28%), routine screening of pregnant women (31-77%), risk-reduction counseling (35-78%), and sex partner management (0-82%). To sustain the recent declines in gonorrhea incidence in the United States, private-sector providers and health systems must continue to offer gonorrhea prevention and clinical services and consider implementing interventions to improve delivery of risk assessment, risk-reduction counseling, and partner management services.