Is triage an appropriate way of dealing with walk-in patients attending genitourinary medicine clinics?

Abstract

Genitourinary medicine services have come under severe workload pressure to deal with unprecedented demand over the past five years. Waiting times for patients wishing to access the service have increased significantly. In order to maintain open access for those who require acute attention, many services have introduced triage systems for patients who attend without appointments (walk-ins). We have evaluated a policy of triage for such patients, and the incidence of sentinel sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (gonorrhoea and chlamydia) was determined in those who failed to meet the criteria. Our study has shown a low incidence of STI (1.7%) in those who failed to meet the triage criteria, thus validating the policy.