STI Screening e-order tab

Over recent months we have seen increasing instances of STI associated e-ordering leading to incorrect specimen collected, incorrect testing, and the need for specimen recollects. Investigation has shown the underlying causes to be multifactorial but one of the primary causes has been the inability to request chlamydia/gonorrhoea/trichomonas testing from multiple body sites at the same time.

After much discussion at Pathlab along with consultation with colleagues in sexual health clinics and the community we have decided to introduce a new STI Screening tab on the e-ordering system. This tab is predominantly focused on patients requiring STI screening as opposed to being for STI symptomatic testing but tests on this tab can still be used in this setting. You will need to use existing tabs for other Microbiology tests in symptomatic patients, e.g. vaginal swab for BV/Thrush.

Below is the new STI screening tab. It should be noted that chlamydia/gonorrhoea/trichomonas has been removed from the Common, Microbiology, Antenatal, and Cervical Screening tabs, you must go to the STI Screening tab to request these STI tests.

The changes to e-ordering will come into effect on Wednesday 7th August. We will be monitoring these changes over coming weeks and welcome your feedback as further development will be performed if required.