National STI Guidelines for GPs and Nurses

After more than two years in the making, the first Australian guidelines for sexually transmissible infections (STI) for use by primary care professionals are now available.

The guidelines were launched recently at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Conference in Adelaide and the Australasian Sexual Health Conference in Sydney. They are available at www.sti.guidelines.org.au

The guidelines aim to provide general practitioners, nurses, and other primary care health workers with clear, concise and convenient access to everything they need to know while a patient is in front of them.

The website consists of three sections: Management of STI by Condition or by Syndromes; and testing guidance for Populations and Situations.

The guidelines are designed to be a fast and accurate way for nurses and doctors to identify an STI from the symptoms, to find out the current clinical management recommendations for an STI diagnosis, and to know what to test for in an individual from a particular population group.

“We knew that the Guidelines needed to be comprehensive and accurate, but users also needed them to be as clear and brief as possible,” said Emily Wheeler, project manager. 

“Having the Guidelines in a website means that they can be updated quickly and primary care providers around Australia will have access to the latest recommendations for best practice.”

The Guidelines were overseen by the Australasian Sexual Health Alliance (ASHA) and funding was from the Australian Government Department of Health.

“This is a website that will be highly useful for GPs and primary health care nurses who may not deal exclusively with sexual health, but need to make confident management decisions.”

The website also contains useful links and resources, such as an STI Testing tool, taking a sexual history and contact tracing, as well as patient fact sheets.

The Guidelines were produced by the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM) and endorsed by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association ; the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners ; the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association; the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine; the Sexual Health Society of Victoria; the Society of Australian Sexologists; the Sexual Health Society of Queensland; New Zealand Sexual Health Society; Family Planning Alliance Australia; the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases; the Australasian Sexual Health and HIV Nurses Association and the New Zealand Sexual Health Society.