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Background: STD Prevention Training Centers (PTCs) have been tasked by the CDC to more closely work with CDC-funded STD program areas and align work plans with priorities defined in their AAPPS grants. In the fall of 2014, the Denver PTC training region was changed to include 4 high-morbidity states: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. To effectively reach these new states, the Denver PTC implemented an AAPPS-oriented approach to assess training needs.
Methods: PTC staff reviewed copies of the AAPPS grant of each state in its region and conducted multiple telephone interviews with STD program staff using a standard questionnaire structured around AAPPS program requirements. This assessment was followed by a series of PTC site visits with staff at state and key local health departments and their flagship STD clinics, capped by a 2-day leadership conference at the Denver PTC, October 1-2, 2015. At this meeting, program areas defined an action plan of short-term goals for program improvement and collaboration with the PTC to increase provider knowledge and skills to screen for, diagnose, and treat STDs and to reduce STD morbidity.
Results: Subsequent to the meeting, 3 new program areas developed AAPPS-required targeted evaluation projects (TEP) around collaboration with the PTC, including non-genital chlamydia and gonorrhea testing in Louisiana (submitted as a separate abstract), and expedited partner treatment (EPT) in Arkansas and Oklahoma. The EPT TEP in Arkansas focused on the evaluation and improvement of an already existing EPT program. In Oklahoma, the Denver PTC was instrumental in moving EPT forward and the program will be implemented in all health units of the state in May of this year.
Conclusions: The AAPPS-oriented approach fostered effective relationships with program areas in an 18-month time period and resulted in measurable outcomes in mutually agreed priority areas to maximize STD program resources and impact.