ASHM Report Back
Clinical posts from members and guests of the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM) from various international medical and scientific conferences on HIV, AIDS, viral hepatitis, and sexual health.
Great start to day 2
Day 2 started off really well with a great presentation from Rebeca Guy, Associate Professor, The Kirby Institute, UNSW, Australia about using New Technology in STI clinics.....IT! Young people have access to IT 24/7
Basically, when someones at risk of an STI, they want an appointment ASAP so why not use electronic self registration and appointments, they can then use a computer assisted survey instrument (CASI) to input their sexual history = cuts down time, avoids awkward questions and more honest answers are given!
CASI can also be used for self collection of samples with Enrolled Nurse staffing = increase in clinic capacity, halves waiting time and process, therefore more clients seen!
In GP clinics there's a problem with low rate of Chlamydia testing in 15-29 years. Studies show that 73.4% of CT cases are asymptomatic and are attending the GP clinic for a non sexual health problem! Computer prompts could help and in a trial of 68 clinics using computer prompts there was a 30% increase in testing!
Having these computer prompts for STI screening can also be helpful in Aboriginal Adult health checks = 10% +ve STI's found using very little resources.
SMS reminders for treatment and recall in remote areas = quicker and higher numbers treated. Also SMS reminders for TORI /POC shows 64% of clients attending for recall but only 30% without SMS reminder.
Point of care technology gives results for CT/NG in 90 minutes, with high accuracy = quick treatment
Websites such as "Let them know" allow clients to notify partners by SMS, email, letter and has high usage, around 20,000 SMS's sent/year.
Online education can be used for parents and kids.
When a 2013 study asked secondary school age kids about reasons for not using condoms, one of the answers was "sex just happened and we didn't have a condom" But there's even an APP for condom delivery! Mind you it takes 1 hour and costs $15!!
Online resources for meeting people like Tinder would be a great opportunity to provide information on STI clinics, where to get tested, postal test kits etc
I'll definitely take back some of these ideas to Sexual Health Quarters in Perth (SHQ) especially CASI which would be so good to use in our extremely busy drop in STI clinics.