Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #98519

Sindy Paul, MD, MPH¹, Evan Cadoff, MD², Eugene Martin, PhD², Maureen Wolski¹, Lorhetta Nichol¹, Phil Bruccoleri¹, Aye Maung¹, Rose Marie Martin, MPH¹, Linda Berezny, RN¹, Rhonda Williams¹, and Charles Taylor¹. (1) Division of HIV/AIDS Services, New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, P.O. Box 363, Trenton, NJ 08625-0363, (609) 984-6191, sindy.paul@doh.state.nj.us, (2) Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 1 Robert Wood Johnson Place, New Brunswick, NJ 08903

Background: The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS) introduced rapid HIV testing at selected publicly funded counseling and testing sites to improve the proportion of high risk persons testing for HIV and to increase the proportion of people who learn their test result. Methods: Staff at publicly funded counseling and testing sites received counseling training, rapid testing training, completed competency testing and passed proficiency testing. Sites include varied settings e.g., hospitals, counseling and testing facilities, prenatal clinics, FQHC's, HIV clinics, emergency departments, STD clinics, and TB clinics. All sites were licensed by NJDHSS. Data were collected using the CDC counseling and testing form. Results: Rapid testing began at 1 site on 11/1/03. By 12/04, 48 sites offered rapid testing. Through 12/9/04, 9,176 people had rapid testing 9,162 of whom (99.9%) received posttest counseling and test results. Of the 9,176 people tested, 28,934 (97.4%) were negative and 238 (2.6%) were positive. The 238 positive results included 143 (60.0%) previously undiagnosed patients. Four patients (0.04%) had a preliminary positive rapid test and a negative Western blot confirmatory test. Prior to rapid testing 65% of patients received posttest counseling and test results. Conclusions: Rapid HIV testing has been successfully implemented at publicly funded counseling and testing sites. The percentage of people receiving posttest counseling and test results increased from 65% to 99.9%. The majority of HIV positive persons were previously undiagnosed. Based on the success of rapid testing thus far, NJDHSS plans to expand rapid testing to approximately 200 sites.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Discuss statewide implementation of rapid HIV testing.
• Describe the impact of rapid HIV testing.
• Apply the lessons learned from rapid HIV testing in New Jersey to other jurisdictions or health care settings.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Decision-Making

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.