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HIV result giving. Is it time to change our thinking?
Loretta M Healey1, Catherine C O'Connor, David J Templeton
1Royal Prince Alfred Sexual Health Clinic, Ground floor, Page Building, RPA Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia. healeyl@email.cs.nsw.gov.au
Sexual Health
|February 16, 2010
Summary
Many patients do not collect HIV test results in person, missing crucial post-test discussions. The strongest predictor for returning for HIV results was a patient's first HIV test at the clinic.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Infectious Disease Epidemiology
- Sexual Health
Background:
- Post-test discussion is vital for HIV testing.
- NSW Health policy mandates in-person HIV result collection.
- This study evaluated patient return rates for HIV results.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the proportion of patients returning for HIV test results.
- To identify predictors of in-person HIV result collection.
- To assess the effectiveness of current NSW Health policy.
Main Methods:
- Manual review of 218 patient files for consecutive HIV tests (Jan-Apr 2007).
- Exclusion of non-consenting patients and those returning for other reasons.
- Multivariate logistic regression to identify factors associated with return within 4 weeks.
Main Results:
- 45% (72/159) of patients returned for their HIV results within 4 weeks.
- Predictors of return included male gender, attending an outreach men-only clinic, first HIV test at the clinic, and sex overseas.
- The strongest predictor of return was having a first HIV test at the clinic.
Conclusions:
- Over half of patients did not receive in-person post-test discussion.
- Current NSW Health policy is not achieving high rates of HIV post-test discussion.
- Telephone delivery of results may improve post-test discussion rates for many patients.
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