3. Promoting HIV Testing in Diverse Populations
Availability of Results
Point-of-care tests offer the clear benefit of providing results before the patient
has left the clinic. In addition, for patients with a preliminary positive result from a point-of-care test, the practitioner can initiate discussions to link those patients to care. However, negative findings are far more common with point-of-care tests, and in those situations, the practitioner can give the patient the test finding and provide counseling regarding safer sex and/or injection-drug practices, as appropriate.
Results of laboratory-based HIV tests, on the other hand, typically are not available for 1 to 5 days, and a positive result requiring a confirmatory test will take several more days. Such a waiting period can make it more difficult to ensure that patients receive the results of their tests. According to current CDC, and other recommendations, negative HIV test results need not be discussed in person with the patient but can be conveyed by, for example, telephone. In other words, whatever protocol a facility has established for informing patients of normal or negative findings of other tests is also applicable to HIV screening. However, patients whose HIV test results are positive should be encouraged to return to the facility to learn about and discuss these findings in person.
