Introduction: Despite recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that all adults be offered\nnon-targeted HIV screening in all care settings, screening in acute-care settings remains unacceptably low. We\nperformed an observational study to evaluate an HIV screening pilot in an academic-community partnership health\ncenter urgent care clinic.\nMethods: We collected visit data via encounter forms and demographic and laboratory data from electronic\nmedical records. A post-pilot survey of perceptions of HIV screening was administered to providers and nurses.\nMultivariable analysis was used to identify factors associated with completion of testing.\nResults: Visit provider and triage nurse were highly associated with both acceptance of screening and completion\nof testing, as were younger age, male gender, and race/ethnicity. 23.5% of patients completed tests, although\n36.0% requested screening; time constraints as well as risk perceptions by both the provider and patient were cited\nas limiting completion of screening. Post-pilot surveys showed mixed support for ongoing HIV screening in this\nsetting by providers and little support by nurses.\nConclusions: Visit provider and triage nurse were strongly associated with acceptance of testing, which may reflect\nvariable opinions of HIV screening in this setting by clinical staff. Among patients accepting screening, visit provider\nremained strongly associated with completion of testing. Despite longstanding recommendations for non-targeted\nHIV screening, further changes to improve the testing and results process, as well as provider education and buy-in,\nare needed to improve screening rates.
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