Sexually Transmitted Diseases  >  Program Guidelines  >  Leadership and Program Management

Program Operations Guidelines for STD Prevention
Leadership & Program Management

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• PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIONS
• References

PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIONS

Project areas face multiple public health concerns, including sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection, tuberculosis, adolescent pregnancy, and substance abuse. In this environment, it is clear that STD prevention programs must develop, cultivate, and maintain effective working relationships with a growing network of public and private entities that work in both health and non-health sectors. Many STD prevention programs have recognized the need to expand their efforts and budgets to improve interaction and collaboration with various relevant partners.

Collaborations with relevant partners can increase the visibility, momentum, and effect of STD prevention efforts by uniting diverse elements and combining talents and resources. Partnerships can reduce duplication of efforts, maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of various groups and individuals interested in STD prevention, and can improve the overall health status of particular target populations. The selection of agencies to collaborate with should be determined by factors such as the services they provide to similar target populations or program efforts between agencies that are complementary and mutually reinforcing. Potential partners include family planning programs, corrections facilities, managed care providers, prenatal programs, HIV prevention programs, community-based organizations serving at-risk populations, schools, drug treatment facilities, and medical societies. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality publishes an initiative called Put Prevention Into Practice (PPIP). The PPIP contains many guidelines and recommendations on reproductive health. This information can be found at www.ahrq.gov/clinic/ppipix.htm.

STD program referrals to agencies that offer individual and community support, substance abuse treatment, tuberculosis skin testing, family planning, and early intervention services have resulted in the reciprocal and consistent referral of clients who are at risk for STD/HIV infection and are in need of counseling, testing, and partner services. Additionally, coordination of STD screening, counseling, and partner services with local corrections facilities and community agencies has enabled STD disease intervention staff to expand patient access to STD services.

Most effective STD prevention programs have established linkages and complementary efforts with HIV prevention and early intervention programs. Persons testing HIV-positive require referral to a wide range of services including medical, mental health, social support, prevention counseling, STD treatment, drug treatment, and reproductive health counseling.

Successful STD prevention efforts are more easily achieved when barriers to services are removed through collaboration, establishment of memorandums of understanding, Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) or Qualified Service Organization Agreements (QSOA), and the development of mutual goals and objectives. QSOA's have been instrumental in overcoming confidentiality barriers in a number of project areas. An example occurred during the early 1980s, when CDC initiated a Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) program that emphasized the need for collaborations that extended beyond the traditional partnerships. Liaison positions were established in which staff carefully reviewed hospital records for results suggestive of PID and other STDs. Such close relationships with hospital emergency rooms, outpatient departments, and hospital administrative staff facilitated the prevention of PID.

Syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia screening initiatives have demonstrated the importance of maintaining close ties with family planning, prenatal care, corrections facilities and maternal and child health programs, as well as with private and public hospitals and laboratories. In addition to effective surveillance and public education programs, the prevention of congenital syphilis continues to require coordinated efforts with agencies that provide services to women of childbearing age, and to pregnant females. With high HIV seroprevalence in STD patients, collaboration and coalition building with community-based organizations and other non-health care providers that can best reach particular segments of the community are crucial. Public health attempts to educate those at-risk must be complementary and mutually beneficial to all parties.

The STD prevention program cannot expect to successfully prevent or control disease in the community by themselves. Experience has taught programs that they must collaborate with key personnel in community based institutions to influence those parts of the program they do not maintain themselves. Administrators change, as do emergency room directors, nurse epidemiologists, and CBO directors. It is, therefore, essential for STD prevention programs to have active ongoing interaction with all agencies that have the potential to affect disease intervention outcomes and STD program objectives. The collaboration should be maintained even though key personnel may change.

 

References

' Bryson John M. Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1995.'

'CDC. Forging Partnerships to Eliminate Tuberculosis. Atlanta, 1995.'

'Gostin L. et al. Improving State Law to Prevent and Treat Infectious Disease. Milbank Memorial Fund. New York, 1998.'

'CDC. Planning and Evaluating HIV/AIDS Prevention Programs in State and Local Health Departments. Atlanta, 1993.'

'IOM. The Hidden Epidemic: Confronting Sexually Transmitted Diseases. National Academy Press. Washington, DC, 1997.'

'Kouzes, J. & Posner B. The Leadership Challenge: How to Keep Getting Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations, 2nd ed., Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1995.'

'Lorenzi N.& Riley, R. Organizational Aspects of Health Informatics: Managing Technological Change. New York. Springer-Verlag, 1994.'

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