| Summary: | The South African HIV testing guideline, Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), World Health Organisation (WHO), and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNSAID) have recommended that routine HIV testing be offered in every healthcare facility. The emergency department(ED) is uniquely placed to be involved in this initiative due the volumes and characteristics of patients seen in the ED. This study seeks to determine the attitude of ED staff and their perceived barriers towards routine testing in the ED.
Methods: Paper-based questionnaires were distributed to 170 members of ED staff in 3 academic hospitals. Survey Questionnaires contained 25 questions to reflect staff knowledge of HIV infection, their attitude towards testing, current testing practices and perceived barriers to testing. Chi square test was used to test for associations between various variables and the willingness to test.
Result: Response rate was 52% (88/170). Average year of experience in an ED (SD) was 4.4 years. Only 30% of ED staff favoured routine testing in the ED. However, 63% of staff was willing to test if result was available within 20 minutes. Members of ED staff generally prefer that a HIV counsellor disclose the result of a positive test. Members of the white race and those who identified fewer barriers were more likely to test. Important barriers cited include; time constraints (77%), inadequate resources (77%), and lack of support staff (71%).
Conclusion: The ED staff generally favoured risk based testing over routine testing. Members of the ED staff are generally willing to offer routine HIV testing, but the presence of barriers may limit the implementation of routine HIV testing in the ED.
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