In August 2012, Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) issued a new guideline recommending HIV testing be considered as part of routine assessment of all adults admitted under the Division of Medicine (DoM). We performed a retrospective audit of testing uptake following six months implementation.
Methods: Data will be retrospectively extracted from hospital electronic and laboratory databases to determine number of HIV tests performed and number of patients admitted under the DoM over six months prior to and post implementation of the guidelines. Additionally we will examine demographic and medical data of those whom tested positive including age, gender, country of origin, CD4 count and presenting diagnosis.
Results: Since implementing the new HIV testing guideline approximately 1,500 people have been tested and 5 (0.3%) tested positive to HIV. Detailed results including analysis of changes in testing rate before and after implementation and characteristics of those testing positive will be presented.
Conclusion: RDH has successfully implemented an HIV testing policy tailored to the local epidemiology of HIV. It appears the overall positivity rate is 0.3% which is within the range at which testing is recommended in some global guidelines. Further data will enable comment on uptake rate and feature of those testing positive, including the number who meet standard Australian testing criteria.