Washington University in St. Louis (WU)
I plan to use computer-assisted self-interviews (CASIs) to improve the rate of gonorrhea and Chlamydia testing in adolescents and young-adults visiting the Saint Louis Children’s Hospital emergency department. CASIs are an underutilized but proven valid method of obtaining medical information from patients, and offer an opportunity in an increasingly technological society to obtain accurate information from patients quickly and reliably, and can improve patient care in a variety of ways when applied to clinical practice. Adolescents are underserved in regards to routine and preventive health care, often relying on emergency departments for a variety of complaints. Their visits, and technological savvy, offer an opportunity to improve STI screening. I plan to offer all adolescents & young adults, regardless of reason for visit, a CASI that will obtain information about the patient’s sexual behavior and give medical providers a recommendation on whether that patient should be tested for gonorrhea and/or Chlamydia.