Health Care Settings

Expanding the number of HIV- infected persons who know their status is a foremost objective of the US. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “ The 2006 guidelines for HIV testing of adults, adolescents, and pregnant women recommend a universal routine HIV screen in all public and private health care settings” (Pinkerton, S., Bogart, L., Howerton, D., Snyder, S., Becker, K., & Asch, S. 2010). These settings include hospitals, emergency departments, urgent care settings, inpatient services, and health departments. By including all medical care settings throughout the country in rapid HIV- testing research has suggested that rapid testing was more desirable for people getting tested for the virus. Because of high costs associated with

These organizations provide resources to those in need of medical assistance, counseling, and other services that high-risk populations may take advantage of. In 2006, “The CDC recommended expanding rapid HIV test use, particularly in community-based organizations” (Pinkerton, S. D., Bogart, L. M., Howerton, D., Snyder, S., Becker, K., & Asch, S. M. 2009). A study conducted in 2009, of thirty-five community, based and clinics around the nation concluded that people who used OraQuick rapid testing decreased the spread of HIV by twenty percent in some communities. The cost of testing in a community-based organization was less than compared to a cost medical setting. Test prices ranged from $36.68 to $44.22 for people in the community. “Concern over the cost is a potential impediment to wider utilization of rapid testing technologies in community settings” (Pinkerton, S. D., Bogart, L. M., Howerton, D., Snyder, S., Becker, K., & Asch, S. M.

One key goal was to decrease roadblocks to the early diagnosis of HIV. By offering HIV testing in COB’s in an outreach setting such as health fairs, public parks, and homeless shelters was expected to upsurge people who were at high risk. One community group in Detroit used a mobile van to offer free HIV testing “at locations such as street corners, needle-exchange programs, substance abuse and mental health treatment centers, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and bathhouses and bars frequented by men who have sex with men” (Shrestha, R., Clark, H., Sansom, S., Song, B., Buckendahl, H., Calhoun, C., & ... Heffelfinger, J. 2008). In addition, persons from community based-organizations most affected by HIV can administer insight into acceptable efficient ways to enhance HIV services. They add perspectives how to remove barriers to testing, provide an adequate risk reduction and implement linkage to medical