Impact of Rapid Testing for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia in an Urban Pediatric Emergency Department

Purpose: To determine the impact of rapid testing for gonorrhea (NG) and chlamydia (CT) on accuracy of treatment in adolescents in the pediatric emergency department (ED).Methods: Retrospective study of adolescents tested for NG and CT in the pediatric ED before and after implementation of rapid testing. Treatment during initial visit, availability of test results prior to discharge, and number of follow-up phone calls made with test results were compared. Appropriate treatment was defined per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2015 guidelines as mono therapy for CT and dual therapy for NG. Descriptive statistics were used to compare groups.Results: Rapid testing improved treatment accuracy with 522 (79.3%) patients treated appropriately in the rapid testing group compared to 478 (64.7%) patients in the batched testing group (p < .001). Inaccurate treatment was more common in the batch testing group among those who tested negative (p < .001). Among those who tested positive for NG and/or CT, phone calls were made to 54 (47.8%) patients in the rapid testing group and 129 (84.3%) patients in the batched testing group to discuss positive test results (p < .001). Conclusion: Compared to batched testing, rapid testing is associated with improved accuracy of treatment of NG and CT in the pediatric ED setting. Additionally, rapid testing is associated with decreased number of phone calls to discuss positive test results.(c) 2022 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study aimed to assess the impact of rapid testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia on treatment accuracy in adolescents in the pediatric emergency department. Results showed that rapid testing improved treatment accuracy and decreased the number of phone calls discussing positive test results.