Expanding the role of a pharmacist as a sexually transmitted infection provider in the setting of an urban free health clinic.

Background: This study was designed to explore patient perceptions of sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening and treatment provided by a pharmacist in an urban free health clinic. With health care reform on the horizon, the role of a pharmacist is quickly evolving, making it necessary for pharmacists to sharpen their clinical skills to accurately serve their patients. One in 4 American adolescents is infected with an STI, placing pharmacists in a position to help decrease STI transmission and complications.

When patients cannot take pills: antiretroviral drug formulations for managing adult HIV infection.

Providing antiretroviral therapy for the HIV-infected population is a complex and challenging task. Treatment is often complicated by the shifting demographic of HIV-infected patients that now includes a large aging population in which patients often have multiple comorbidities. HIV clinicans are challenged with choosing the optimal combination of antiretrovirals based on potency, tolerability, bioavailability, and ease of administration.

Genital, oral, and anal human papillomavirus infection in men who have sex with men.

Even though the incidence of anal cancer among men who have sex with men (MSM) is higher than the incidence of cervical cancer among women, few MSM are identified as high-risk patients in primary care or have received vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection worldwide, with 6.2 million new infections each year. The authors review the current literature on diagnosis and basic management of genital, oral, and anal HPV infection.