About the National STD Curriculum
The National STD Curriculum is a free, up-to-date educational resource health care professionals to learn about the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and infections (STIs). This 100% CDC-funded curriculum is part of the National Network of STD Clinical Prevention Training Centers (NNPTC). This project is led by the University of Washington (UW) STD Prevention Training Center and the UW Infectious Diseases Education & Assessment (IDEA) Program. The website offers 30 free CME, CNE, CE and 12 free pharmacology CE for advanced practice nurses and features:
- 9 lessons about the most common diseases and infections
- 25+ Question Bank topics with interactive, case-based questions
- Podcast series exploring innovative and significant STD and STI issues
- Mpox Clinical Guide highlight key information for clinicians
- Online learning group functionality to onboard and train healthcare professionals, residents, and students
- Individualized and learning group progress trackers
Continuing Education (CE) Credits Available
All IDEA curricula offer free CME credits, CNE contact hours, and CE contact hours. Pharmacology CE for advanced practice nurses is often available. For those who don’t need CE, Certificates of Completions are available.
View or download list of National STD Curriculum units and available CE
Funding support
All IDEA curricula are 100% funded by either the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The National STD Curriculum is funded by a cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC-RFA-PS20-2004).
History
Founded in 1946, the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine (UWSOM) is a nationally recognized leader in training physicians. In 2003, Dr. David Spach, a board certified physician and Professor of Medicine in UWSOM’s Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, led efforts to create a federally-funded, online infectious disease curricula based on adult learning theory with customized instructional design. Dr. Spach is now Editor-in-Chief for the following IDEA curricula: Hepatitis C Online (launched 2013), the National STD Curriculum (2017), the National HIV Curriculum (2017), Hepatitis B Online (2020), and the National HIV PrEP Curriculum (2024)
Created and managed by the IDEA Program, these websites were integrated to provide a consistent user interface and uniform design allowing learners to quickly and easily navigate and access content. Registered learners can use a single username and password across curricula.
Mission and Goals
The IDEA mission is to deliver innovative, free, online education and training to diagnose, manage, and prevent infectious diseases. The long-term goals of the IDEA curricula are to:
- Improve and enhance the competency of health professionals currently providing medical care to people living with or at risk for infectious diseases;
- Expand the number of health professionals interested in and capable of providing competent medical care to those individuals;
- Improve the quality of medical care; and
- Prevent new infections among persons at risk
Guiding Principles
IDEA content, resources, and services are free and accessible 24/7 to all healthcare professionals, healthcare settings, and organizations. Content is developed using four principles. Please click on any principle to learn more.
Clinical Relevance
- Content is up-to-date and based on current federal treatment guidelines
- Authors, reviewers, and editors are experienced, working clinicians and/or medical school faculty Contributors
- Podcastexplores innovative and significant topics and clinical implications through conference summaries, expert interviews, and literature reviews
- Illustrated clinical guide on Mpox
- Learning is self-paced for a variety of healthcare professionals (novice to experienced)
- High-quality audio/visual multimedia, graphics, and medical illustrations enhance written content
- The master bibliography is searchable by topic or author
- Specific references are embedded as citations within the text
Reliability
- 100% funded by the federal government and unbiased by commercial funding
- Free AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) CME credits and free CNE contact hours, pharmacology CE for advanced practice nurses and CE contact hours from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) CE Notices
- Personalized progress tracker, on-demand CE certificates, and Certificates of Completion are available 24/7
- All IDEA sites adhere to University of Washington Privacy Policies and the IDEA Privacy Policy
- The information and data collected from registered learners are encrypted. The websites use industry standard encrypted SSL connections (SHA-256 with RSA Encryption).
Innovation
- The IDEA curricula are custom-designed to meet the unique needs of medical professionals
- Dual-purpose use allows learners to alternate between “quick reference” to immediately access information (no registration or sign-in needed) and “self-study” (stop and start learning while tracking progress, CE, and Certificates of Completions)
- Downloadable PDFs of lessons are available to view offline (available in quick reference)
- Online learning groups provide educators and managers an efficient, scalable tool to curate content, enroll learners, and monitor performance
Integration
- Learners can use a single sign-on (same name and password) for all IDEA curricula
- Uniform navigation tools, CE processes, progress trackers, and the learning group tool allow for a consistent learner experience
- As treatment guidelines change, resulting updates and references are implemented throughout all the curricula
- Learning groups allow healthcare entities and training programs to implement a “flipped classroom” model
- Modules, lessons, and Question Bank topics can be accessed through the CDC TRAIN Learning Network and all units meet the CDC Quality Training Standards.
