Offering Routine and Rapid Point of Care (POC) Syphilis Testing in Pregnant Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department

Summary

The purpose of this study is to offer routine lab-based and rapid point of care (POC) syphilis diagnostic testing in the emergency department (ED) and obstetrical (OB) triage , thereby increasing screening and treatment initiation for pregnant patients without prenatal care or with no documented syphilis results during the index pregnancy in other to increase rates of full treatment to determine if the implementation of a robust linkage to care program for pregnant patients with positive rapid POC results will more likely result in complete treatment for all stages of syphilis and adherence to recommended maternal and newborn longitudinal follow up and to assess factors that contribute to treatment completion after implementation of the intervention will also be analyzed to tailor efforts targeting social and healthcare navigation factors that affect health equity; including poverty, insurance, health literacy and others.

Eligibility

Age range

18–50 years

Sex

Female

Healthy volunteers

No

Interventions

• Device
  Rapid Point of Care (POC) Syphilis testing

  Participants will undergo the point of care (POC) FDA cleared syphilis health check (SHC) POC test by a research staff using 50 microliters or 1-3 drops of whole blood via finger stick. The analyzer is handheld, and all testing equipment is temperature stable and does not need refrigeration. The SHC-Syphilis results will be available within 10 minutes of receipt given the published turnaround time to results of 15 minutes per package insert and will be recorded as a research note in the electronic medical record (EMR) while the provider assigned to the patient and the Houston Health Department will be notified of results and further treatment will be done if results are positive.

Location