Team Triage Intervention, Including Licensed Practical Nurse, to Increase HIV Testing Rates in the Emergency Department: A Quality Improvement Project.

INTRODUCTION: Emergency departments have an important role in screening for human immunodeficiency virus infection and reducing the morbidity, mortality, and transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus. There are debates about human immunodeficiency virus screening, including opt-in, opt-out, and active choice models. Previous studies have shown that multiple factors affect the patient rate of acceptance, including where, when, and by whom the screening is offered. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to test a team-based triage intervention to improve the amount of HIV testing done in our emergency department.

METHODS: The design was a single site quality improvement intervention with post-intervention monthly rates compared to historic monthly rate controls. The intervention focused on the introduction of a Licensed Practical Nurse in addition to the current triage process and personnel. The percentage of patients receiving human immunodeficiency virus testing and the number of tests sent per month before and after the implementation of the intervention were measured.

RESULTS: Our results show that 0.6% (SD < 0.01) and 2.5% (SD 2.2) of patients received human immunodeficiency virus testing before and after implementation of the intervention, respectively (χ2 = 501.76, P < 0.05). A mean of 37.4 (SD = 12.91) and 151.3 (SD = 33.34) human immunodeficiency virus tests were sent per month before and after implementation of the intervention, respectively (t = 8.53, P < 0.001).

DISCUSSION: This process intervention, in which licensed practical nurses offered human immunodeficiency virus screening tests during team triage, resulted in a 3-fold increase in the percentage of patients being tested for human immunodeficiency virus.