profession
Pediatric residents lack training to treat STIs in adolescents
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Oct. 1, 2012
About half of sexually transmitted infections in the U.S. occur in teenagers, but pediatric residents are not adequately trained in how to prevent recurring infections in these patients, says a Pediatrics study published online Sept. 17 (link).
Thirty-one states have enacted laws that allow physicians to prescribe antibiotics to sexual partners of patients with gonorrhea or chlamydia without seeing the partner. California was the first state to enact a law for expedited partner therapy in 2001, but a survey of 289 California pediatric residents found that only 52% had used the therapy, and 83% said they had diagnosed an STI. Of those who had used the therapy, 30% said they felt uncomfortable doing it.
Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine in California said residency programs need to improve education about EPT. “Unless you treat the partner, your patient gets reinfected,” said senior study author Neville Golden, MD, an adolescent medicine specialist at Packard Children’s Hospital and professor of pediatrics at Stanford.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/10/01/prbf1001.htm.
