Evaluating STI - Health Systems Trust

Purpose of this booklet
This booklet is a step-by-step guide for monitoring and evaluating
some key aspects of quality of STI management at Primary Health
Care facilities in the public sector.
It is written for District Managers, Clinic Supervisors and STI
Coordinators to assist them in developing a plan to evaluate the quality
of care in the clinics for which they are responsible and to develop
action plans for improving this care.
It is based on the use of a quality improvement instrument, the District
STI Quality of Care Assessment (DISCA). The DISCA was developed
after extensive consultation with nurses, public health professionals
and health service managers, and measures key input, process and
output indicators related to management of people with sexually
transmissible infections (STI).
This booklet is part of a package of resources related to the DISCA.
The package includes – A Practical Guide to Using the DISCA, a
shorter guide to the DISCA, the DISCA form itself and a set of summary
sheets for analysing information from 6 clinics.
This booklet focuses mainly on analysing, interpreting and reporting
on the findings from several completed DISCA forms.
– 1 –
Key steps in conducting a
DISCA assessment
(This guide deals primarily with steps 10 – 15)
1. Identify the appropriate and relevant people concerned with
the quality of STI care in the clinics. At the District level,
these would include the District STI/HIV coordinator, the
Maternal and Child Health (MCH) coordinator, the Primary
Health Care trainer, the clinic supervisors and the District
medical officer. If possible it would be good to have
representation from local authority clinics, the private sector
(including occupational health sites) and any relevant NGOs
in the area.
2. Bring this team together to discuss the issue of quality of
care in the clinics and examine the DISCA tool as a method
for improving quality.
3. Discuss how the DISCA can be used in the District, including
suggestions on additional data to be collected, how the data
will be collected, analysed and used.
4. Discuss the importance of the quality and completeness of
data.
5. Compile a complete list of clinics in the district and decide
whether the DISCA will be used in every clinic or whether a
representative sample will be evaluated.
6. Allocate each clinic to be evaluated to a supervisor or STI
coordinator. Decide on the deadline for the completion of
the DISCAs.