Primary health care providers surveyed commonly misinterpret 'first void urine' for chlamydia screening.
An open question survey of general practitioners (GP) and hospital emergency department (ED) doctors revealed that the term 'FVU' (first void urine) used for urine chlamydia testing, is ambiguous, potentially leading to incorrect urine sample collection and barriers to effective screening. The results of this survey indicate that only 4.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.5-14.5%) of GP and 6.9% (95% CI 0.9-22.8%) of ED doctors respectively, correctly interpreted the meaning of FVU. The majority of clinicians surveyed misunderstood 'FVU' to require the first urine void of the day, accounting for 68.1% (95% CI 52.9-80.9%) of GP responses and 37.9% (95% CI 20.7-57.7%) of ED doctors responses. This highlights the need for clarification and standardisation of terminology used in urine chlamydia screening for health care providers, in order to optimise strategies for diagnosis and control of the ongoing chlamydia epidemic.
Lusk
M Josephine
MJ
Short Street Sexual Health Centre, Department of Immunology, Allergy & Infectious Diseases, St George Hospital, Kogarah, NSW 2217, Australia.
Uddin
Ruby
R
Ferson
Mark
M
Rawlinson
William
W
Konecny
Pam
P
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001315:Australia; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000652:urine*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods; D014521:Urethra / Q000382:microbiology; D016482:Urinalysis / Q000379:methods*; D014556:Urine / Q000382:microbiology