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Taegtmeyer, Miriam 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5377-2536 and Beeching, Nicholas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7019-8791
(2008)
'Practical approaches to HIV testing in the intensive care unit'. Journal of the Intensive Care Society, Vol 9, Issue 1, pp. 37-41.
Abstract
Diagnostic and ethical dilemmas around HIV testing are a common problem for the intensivist, whose patients may be unconscious. Emphasis on increased testing by the non-specialist sharpens the focus of this debate in the UK and raises specific questions around how this can be achieved within the current legal and ethical framework. In this article we outline the natural history of HIV for the non-specialist and discuss the legal and ethical interface with intensive care medicine through the use of specific clinical case studies. We argue that ICU clinicians should have a very low threshold
for offering HIV tests whenever clinical or epidemiological indicators are present. There is nothing ‘special’ about HIV testing except that specific consent still has to be obtained, in confidence, from conscious patients. Testing is indicated whenever it is in the clinical interests of the patient. The small proportion of situations that are less straightforward can be discussed with and/or be dealt with by the local HIV team.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | HIV; testing; opt-out; intensive care |
| Subjects: | W General Medicine. Health Professions > W 50 Medical ethics WC Communicable Diseases > Virus Diseases > Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV Infections > WC 503.1 Diagnosis WX Hospitals and Other Health Facilities > Clinical Departments and Units > WX 200 General works |
| Faculty: Department: | Groups (2002 - 2012) > Clinical Group |
| Depositing User: | Users 43 not found. |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Sep 2010 13:03 |
| Last Modified: | 17 Oct 2019 10:51 |
| URI: | https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/1408 |
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