STI Cases Are Climbing—and a Lot of Those Patients Are Likely to Visit an Urgent Care Center

The World Health Organization just released data indicating that more than a million new sexually transmitted infections occur in individuals 15 to 49 years of age every day worldwide. The domestic situation is no better, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are “steep and sustained increases in sexually transmitted diseases” in the U.S. The relative anonymity of urgent care, where patients are less likely to have an ongoing medical relationship with a provider they know, is often the setting of choice for patients concerned they could have an STI. What patients see as a comforting factor can complicate things for the provider, however. For an urgent care perspective on the subject of sexually transmitted diseases, read STDs: Assessment and Treatment in Urgent Care in the JUCM archive.