Background:
Previous efforts to remind STD clinic patients in San Francisco to return in 3 months for retesting have focused on patient written postcards mailed 3 months after the date of treatment. This system has yielded a very low rate of return. Between January 2004 and April 2005, only 6% of positive patients returned to the clinic between 85 and 100 days after diagnosis.

Objective:
To assess the preferred means of contacting chlamydia (CT) or gonorrhea (GC) positive STD clinic patients to remind them to return in 3 months for retesting.

Method:
A brief, anonymous survey was given to 200 STD clinic patients at the time they received treatment for CT or GC. The survey asked about demographics and preferred means of being contacted in three months. Completed surveys were entered into EpiInfo 6 and analyzed using SAS.

Result:
78% of respondents indicated that a phone call was the one most preferred means of contact for reminders about follow-up testing, followed by email (12.5%) and letter (6.0%). Men who have sex with men (MSM) were more likely (20.5%) to list email as the most preferred means of contact than other males (7.7%) and females (4.3%). Acceptable methods of contact ranked as follows: phone (95%); letter (46%); email (44.5%); text message (38.5%) and postcard (33.5%).

Conclusion:
Respondents to the survey overwhelmingly preferred a telephone call to remind them to return to the clinic for retesting. The current postcard reminder system was the least acceptable method.

Implications:
STD clinic patients are unlikely to return for repeat testing unless adequate reminder systems are in place. We plan to implement a new retesting reminder system including waiting room posters, reminders from clinicians, appointment cards, and telephone calls and then reevaluate the return rate for retesting.