Chlamydia testing in general practice - a survey of Victorian general practitioners.
BACKGROUND
To assess the current chlamydia testing practices of Victorian general practitioners (GPs).


METHODS
GPs were randomly selected from the Australasian Medical Publishing Company's national database of medical practitioners and mailed a letter of invitation asking them to complete a postal survey. Up to three postal reminders were sent to non-responders.


RESULTS
Of 421 eligible GPs, 252 (60%) returned a completed survey; 22.9% (95% CI: 17.8%, 28.6%) reported testing at least some asymptomatic patients for chlamydia each week and 26.8% (95% CI: 21.4%, 32.7%) reported that they presumptively treated patients for chlamydia without testing them at least half the time. The majority knew the appropriate specimens for diagnosing chlamydia, but 6-8% thought blood and 6% indicated that the Pap smear could be used to reliably diagnose chlamydia infection.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings have implications for the future chlamydia screening pilot program in Australia and indicate that a comprehensive education program will be necessary to inform GPs and equip them with the skills to appropriately test for chlamydia in their practice.
Hocking
Jane S
JS
School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. jhocking@unimelb.edu.au
Lim
Megan S C
MS
Vidanapathirana
Janaki
J
Read
Tim R H
TR
Hellard
Margaret
M
D000328:Adult; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010821:Physicians, Family; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015231:Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014739:Victoria / Q000453:epidemiology