STI Tx Guide vs Gout Diagnosis

The new app offers quick and easy access to streamlined STI prevention, diagnosis, and treatment recommendations. The user-friendly interface includes more clinical care guidance, sexual history resources, patient materials, and other features to assist with patient management. The STI Treatment (Tx) Guidelines mobile app serves as a quick reference guide for doctors and related parties on the identification of and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The full STI Treatment Guidelines (cdc.gov) can be accessed at https://www.cdc.gov/std/treatment-guidelines/default.htm. The guidelines provide current evidence-based prevention, diagnostic and treatment recommendations that replace the 2015 guidance. The recommendations are intended to be a source for clinical guidance. Healthcare providers should always assess patients based on their clinical circumstances and local burden. DISCLAIMER THE MATERIALS EMBODIED IN THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC) OR THE UNITED STATES (U.S.) GOVERNMENT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF PROFIT, LOSE OF USE, SAVINGS OR REVENUE, OR THE CLAIMS OF THIRD PARTIES, WHETHER OR NOT CDC OR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS, HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE POSSESSION, USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

Gout is a tricky diagnosis to make. Rarely is it made via the gold standard technique of synovial aspiration and polarized light microscopy. The vast majority of diagnoses are clinical. A primary care and rheumatologist team of Dutch researchers led by Hein Janssens derived and published a clinical decision rule in 2010. This app brings that decision rule to primary care physicians, rheumatologists, and acute care (ER/urgent-care) clinicians everywhere. With just a few clicks of information about a patient's case, you can see what the gout diagnosis calculator suggests about the patient's chances of having gout or not having gout. The app is a collaboration by Dr. Joshua Steinberg and Dr. Hein Janssens, both family physicians. The first version offers English and Dutch versions. Updates coming soon will offer German, French, and Spanish versions. The app also contains educational background information about the diagnosis of gout in general and about how the gout diagnostic rule and calculator were developed and later validated. Full references to the literature are provided including links to Pub Med. Like all my apps, this app is intended for clinicians only, not the lay public. It is written to help family physicians, internists, general practitioners, rheumatologists, residents, and students consider the diagnosis of gout in those who present with acute mono-arthritis. As an educator and clinician myself, I am interested in feedback and I would be grateful for guidance on improving this tool.