Video Transcription

How to Get an STI Test

Hi everyone, my name’s Susan with the YEP Project in Perth, Western Australia. I’m heading to SHQ today to get an STI test. I haven’t made an appointment, but I’ve checked online, and their drop-in service is running at the moment. So, I’m going to head in now and just see how we go.

Hello, how can I help you today?
I need for the job, including… sure. Have you been here before?
No. Okay, I just need you to fill in this paperwork and bring it back to me with your Medicare card. This is your number, so when they call you in, it goes in this box.
Okay, thank you.

Getting tested for STIs is a really important part of taking care of my health. But I know if I have an STI or not, it means I can get treatment if I need it, and I can make sure I don’t pass it on to anyone else. You can’t always tell if you have an STI, not just by looking. So, testing is the only way to be completely sure.

I’m positive. My name is Rochelle, I’m one of the doctors. I last night and today, I’m here to get an STI test. We usually just start with a few general questions about your health. It makes it a little bit easier as long as I know what the medications and strains you’re under now. Jenny, I just asked, and we ask everyone the same sort of questions. A little bit about your sexual history, so don’t feel uncomfortable. But if you do at any time, just let me know.

Okay, so do you have any symptoms at the moment that you’re worried about?
Lauren, most STIs, probably or sexually transmitted infections, are completely asymptomatic, meaning they don’t cause any symptoms at all. But some people experience symptoms like funny vaginal discharge, funny smell, pain in the pelvis, irregular periods, bleeding after intercourse. Have you experienced any of those?
I love it. Okay. And we generally now move on to just some general questions about your sexual preference and sexual partners. And the reason we do those is so that we know what your risks are and what swabs to take and what tests to organize for you. Sure.

Okay, in the last six months, how many people have you had sex with? And do you have regular sexual partners and casual sexual partners, or were they all casual encounters? [Music]

And when you have sex, do you have sex with men, women, trans people, or a mix of all?
When did you last have sex with a regular partner?
A couple of weeks ago.
Okay. And have you had sex with anyone else since then?
No.
So, it was about two weeks ago, yeah. And when you have sex, do you have vaginal sex?
Yes.
Oral sex, giving and receiving?
And anal sex, giving or receiving?
Rather than I have. Okay.
And how often do you use condoms?
Yes, sure. I mean, that’s realistic. I mean, obviously, condoms are the best to prevent getting sexually transmitted infections. Yeah, but certainly, we can do some testing for you today to make sure that that’s not an issue.

When was your last menstrual period?
A couple of weeks ago.
And was that a normal period then?
Yeah.
Okay, so there’s no chance that you could be pregnant at the moment?
Yeah, normal period two weeks ago, then that’s pretty good.
Are you using any form of contraception other than condoms at the moment?
Okay, so after we’ve done all the STI testing, maybe when we bring you back, we can talk a little bit about your contraceptive options. After all, some information, because there’s a good opportunity to start thinking about what if the condom breaks, or what if you get pregnant and you’re not quite ready to get pregnant? So, we can talk about some contraceptive options at that time as well.

All right, and have you ever injected drugs at all? And do you have any tattoos or piercings which were done elsewhere?
And have you ever had a blood transfusion or a transplant?
Do you know if you’ve been immunized against hepatitis A or hepatitis B?
No, that’s okay.
Do you have all your childhood vaccinations?
Yes.
Supposed to be immunized against them, staying away from chickenpox?
Okay, we can check that. And have you had the cervical cancer or HPV vaccination?
Yeah.
And when was the last time you had an STI test or a blood work driver’s test?
Six months ago.
Yes.
Have you ever had an STI in the past?
I completely forgot.
Yeah, hallelujah.

Okay, so we’ve got a new cervical screening test now, which is not the pap smear. So, we recommend that that begins for your cervical screening at about 25, so you’ve still got a few more years yet. There’s no need to worry about that right now. We’re moving towards looking at human papillomavirus rather than just looking for cells. But we will commence that at 25 for most women now. I guess for you, there are a huge number of STIs or sexually transmitted infections that you possibly may have been exposed to. And sexually transmitted infections are quite common. The most common one at the moment for young people is chlamydia. Gonorrhea is on the rise in Perth, unfortunately, and that is also a risk. But both of those, if detected, are quite easily treated with antibiotics. Okay, which is the good news.

There are several blood-borne virus tests we can offer you today, and we can check for things like HIV, syphilis, and, if you’d like, I can check your immunity to hepatitis B as well, so that if you’re not immune, we can then offer you immunization.
Yeah, great.

Now, the thing about any testing is that we need to appreciate your honesty about the size. We just need to know exactly where to test from. So, for you, I would probably recommend our throat swab so that we can make sure there’s no infection in the throat. I have a swab spot, which you can take yourself. I don’t need to touch you. I don’t need to examine you. You can do that yourself. The same with an anal swab. You can do that yourself. In fact, you can do it outside of yourself. Don’t feel pressured to do it in front of me. Just go to the bathroom. Yeah, sometimes people prefer me to do the throat swab because they don’t like gagging like some others, but I’ll leave it up to you. I can show you how to do it.

The other test that we organize is the blood-borne virus test. We have a lab down the hall who can do those just for you. Basically, what we do is we put a few rounds around, take some blood, and it’s only one needle. We just get one shot out of it. We can check that blood for things like HIV, syphilis, and other STIs.

Now, with STI testing, there are a few things legally I just need to run through with you. Sure.
Okay, we’ve noted where your last menstrual period was a couple of weeks ago. These tests should be fairly accurate for anything over that.
Okay. With syphilis and HIV, there’s something called a “window period,” which means that it takes up to about three months for the virus to appear in the blood if you’ve been exposed and infected with that virus. And so, it will be accurate for any sex you had more than three months ago. But what we would recommend for you, since you’ve had sex more recently, just in the last couple of weeks, is that we retest again at a later date.

The important thing in that window period is to ensure that you continue to use condoms. So, in terms of your risk, you’re a fairly low risk for HIV, syphilis, and other viruses. Unfortunately, with chlamydia and gonorrhea, they have a higher prevalence, but you haven’t gotten any symptoms, so we can just do this once and see how things turn out.

Yeah, I’ll give you three swabs, and I’ll label them for you.
So, basically, that’s right. I’ll show you how to do it. A lot of people say, “Oh, do you want to do it, doctor?”
Yeah, I’ll do it right at the back. Right. Okay, give it a rub and stick it in. Then, just pull it out. You put it in the vagina, just about there.
Okay, swirl it around, hold it there for about ten seconds, and then put it back inside the tube.

With the rectal swab, there are instructions in the bathroom if you forget anything.
Sure, maybe rub the tip a little bit to make it more comfortable for you.
Basically, just put it in like this. If it makes it more comfortable, I’m not sticking it, you know. Just if that makes it a little bit easier.

So, what I’ll do is give you all the materials. You can go to the bathroom, get it all done, and come back here. We can talk about any questions you might have about contraception and how to get your results.

Do you have any questions at the moment?
Okay, great. Well, I’ll give you a chance to think about them, and then I’ll give you your swabs now. [Music]

Check it out; they’ve got an instruction card to make sure I do it correctly. They provide privacy courses, so that sounds pretty simple. Once you’ve had your test, your blood’s done as well.
Yeah.

So, now, we just need to talk a little bit about how you want to get your results.
Absolutely. How would you like your results? Some people prefer email, some prefer text message. We text if everything’s normal, but we may call if there’s any issue with the results.
We can make that work for you by phone as well.

So, how would you like your results?
Text or phone?
Okay, your results should come back within a week. Sometimes it can take up to two weeks, I just warn people in case they’re delayed. If it hasn’t happened by two weeks, and you haven’t received a text, please give us a call. If you’re particularly worried or anxious before that, give us a call and we’ll see if the results have come back earlier than expected.

Okay, that’s a lot

Video by SHQ