Screening for asymptomatic Chlamydia infections among sexually active adolescent girls during pediatric urgent care

Abstract

Objective: To develop and evaluate an intervention to increase Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) screening among sexually active adolescent girls during pediatric urgent care.

Design: Ten pediatric clinics were randomly assigned to an intervention (5 clinics) or control group (5 clinics). The proportion of sexually active girls screened for CT was estimated over 18 months (April 2005-September 2006).

Setting: Large health maintenance organization in northern California.

Participants: Pediatric clinics providing urgent care services for adolescent girls aged 14 to 18 years.

Intervention: In the intervention clinics, a team of providers and clinic staff met monthly to redesign their clinic system to improve CT screening during urgent care. Controls received an informational lecture on CT screening.

Main outcome measures: Clinic-specific proportions of sexually active adolescent girls screened for CT.

Results: The change over time in clinic-specific CT screening rates in urgent care was significantly greater in the intervention group than in the control group (likelihood ratio, chi(2)(1) = 18.7; P < .001). Between baseline and the fifth intervention period, the proportions of girls screened for CT increased by 15.93% in the intervention group and decreased by 2.13% in the comparison clinics.

Conclusions: The intervention significantly improved the proportion of adolescent girls screened for CT during urgent care. Despite this success, substantial barriers to screen for CT in urgent care remain. Innovative strategies to provide basic information about CT, other sexually transmitted infections, and pregnancy are greatly needed since many teens are never seen for preventive care in a given year.