Background:
In Florida there has been a 150% increase in the number of Primary and Secondary (P&S) Syphilis cases between 1998 and 2004. Men that have Sex with Men (MSM) account for 60% of all P&S Syphilis Cases in Florida. In response to the recent syphilis resurgence the Florida Department of Health, Bureau of STD along with the Centers for Disease Control developed and implemented the Syphilis Intervention Project, SIP. The expanded STD clinic hours intervention is the focus of this poster.

Objective:
The main objective of the expanded clinic schedule intervention is to increase access and quality of STD care for MSM communities in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

Method:
Access to STD care was increased by either extending the office hours of existing clinics or by opening new clinics. Data from client medical records and interviews were collected and entered into an Access database, which was then imported into SAS for analysis and interpretation.

Result:
Both counties successfully increased access and quality of care by extending office hours and assigning senior DIS staff to work at the extended hour clinics. At the Miami-Dade there was only a slight increase in the number of clients seen, instead clients took advantage of the expanded hours by arriving later. In contrast Wilton Manor (WM) was successful in attracting new MSM clients.

Conclusion:
At WM the homogeny of the clientele made it easier to develop and implement culturally acceptable interventions, while in Miami-Dade the heterogeneous clientele made it impractical to target any one group of people. This difference is enhanced by Broward's focus of marketing efforts to MSMs, while Miami-Dade marketed to the general public. By targeting only MSM and providing a GLBT friendly environment the WM Clinic was successful in attracting MSM clients.

Implications:
To provide better access existing clinics should stagger clinic schedules to accommodate client schedules.