Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40186207›Full record

Observational studyBMC health services research2025

Does a waiting room increase same-day treatment for sexually transmitted infections among pregnant women? A quality improvement study at South African primary healthcare facilities.

Ranjana M S Gigi, Mandisa M Mdingi, Lukas Bütikofer, Chibuzor M Babalola, Jeffrey D Klausner, Andrew Medina-Marino, Christina A Muzny, Christopher M Taylor, Janneke H H M van de Wijgert, Remco P H Peters and 1 more

Abstract readObservational Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Observational study in BMC health services research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Ranjana M S GigiResearch Unit, Foundation for Professional Development, East London, South Africa.
Mandisa M MdingiResearch Unit, Foundation for Professional Development, East London, South Africa.
Lukas BütikoferDepartment of Clinical Research, CTU Bern, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Chibuzor M BabalolaDepartment of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Jeffrey D KlausnerDepartment of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Andrew Medina-MarinoDepartment of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Christina A MuznyDivision of Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Christopher M TaylorDepartment of Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Janneke H H M van de WijgertJulius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Remco P H Peters *Research Unit, Foundation for Professional Development, East London, South Africa.
Nicola Low *Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. nicola.low@unibe.ch.

Funding

Clinical Study of STI Screening to Prevent Adverse Birth and Newborn OutcomesR01AI149339 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · PI KLAUSNER, JEFFREY DAVID, MEDINA-MARINO, ANDREW · 2020 to 2024
$4.3M
NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI149339NIH HHS R01AI149339Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung 197831 and 191225
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSame-day testing and treatment of curable sexually transmitted infections (STI) is a strategy to reduce infection duration and onward transmission. South African primary healthcare facilities often lack sufficient waiting spaces. This study aimed to assess the proportion of, and factors influencing, pregnant women waiting for on-site STI test results before and after the installation of clinic-based waiting rooms.

methodsWe conducted an observational quality improvement study at 5 public primary healthcare facilities in South Africa from March 2021 to May 2023. The intervention was the installation of a waiting room in two clinics. Three clinics were used as comparators: two already had a waiting room in an existing building and one had access to a shared waiting area. The outcome was the percentage of women who waited for their STI test results. We conducted univariable and multivariable analyses and report marginal risk differences (with 95% confidence intervals, CI) of the proportions of women who waited for results. A subset of women answered structured questions about factors influencing their decision to wait for results.

resultsWe analysed data from 624 women across the 5 facilities. Overall, 36% (95% CI 31 to 40) waited for their test results (range 7 to 89%). In the two intervention clinics, 17% (95% CI 11 to 24) waited for results before the introduction of a waiting room and 10% (95% CI 5 to 18) after (crude absolute difference - 7% (95% CI -16 to + 3), adjusted difference, -6% (95% CI -17 to + 5)). The percentages of pregnant women waiting for STI test results were higher throughout the study period in 2 clinics which always had a dedicated waiting room than in 2 clinics where a waiting room was installed, or in 1 clinic, which only had access to a shared waiting area. Most women reported before testing that they did not intend to wait and none of the suggested factors would change their decision.

conclusionsIntroduction of a waiting room did not increase the proportion of women who waited for their results in this observational study. Future studies should investigate infrastructure, individual and test-based factors that affect same-day STI testing and treatment.

Indexed as

Pregnancy Complications, InfectiousPrimary Health CareQuality ImprovementSexually Transmitted DiseasesAdultAmbulatory Care FacilitiesFemaleHumansPregnancySouth AfricaYoung AdultHealthcare quality improvementHealth services researchPregnant womenSame-day resultsSexually transmitted infections

Identifiers

PMID40186207
PMCPMC11971735

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.