Implementing Indicator Condition–Guided HIV Screening Alerts in the Emergency Department: Lessons Learned from a Case Study.

Introduction: Indicator condition (IC)-guided HIV testing is recommended internationally as a cost-effective strategy but remains inconsistently implemented, particularly in emergency departments (EDs). Electronic health record (EHR) alerts may improve adherence; however, real-world uptake depends o...

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Publicado en:Inquiry (00469580) Vol. 63; pp. 1 - 8
Autores principales: Fanjul, Francisco, Macià Romero, Maria Dolores, Fraile, Pablo, Guiu, Alexandra, Campins, Antoni, Ferré, Adrià, Pinecki, Sophia, Riera, Melchor
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Sage Publications Inc. 7/24/2026
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Implementing Indicator Condition–Guided HIV Screening Alerts in the Emergency Department: Lessons Learned from a Case Study.
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          Fanjul, Francisco
          Macià Romero, Maria Dolores
          Fraile, Pablo
          Guiu, Alexandra
          Campins, Antoni
          Ferré, Adrià
          Pinecki, Sophia
          Riera, Melchor
        affil:
          Infectious Diseases Unit, Son Espases University Hospital, Palma, Spain
          Health Research Institute of the Balearic Islands (IdISBa), Palma, Spain
          Faculty of Medicine, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, Spain
          Microbiology Department, Son Espases University Hospital, Palma, Spain
          Emergency Department, Son Espases University Hospital, Palma, Spain
      su:
        Diagnosis of HIV infections
        Patient compliance
        Effect sizes (Statistics)
        Research funding
        Clinical decision support systems
        Hospital emergency services
        HIV infections
        Descriptive statistics
        Chi-squared test
        Longitudinal method
        Odds ratio
        Electronic health records
        Medical screening
        Case studies
        Quality assurance
        Confidence intervals
      sug:
        subj:
          Diagnosis of HIV infections
          Patient compliance
          Effect sizes (Statistics)
          Research funding
          Clinical decision support systems
          Hospital emergency services
          HIV infections
          Descriptive statistics
          Chi-squared test
          Longitudinal method
          Odds ratio
          Electronic health records
          Medical screening
          Case studies
          Quality assurance
          Confidence intervals
      keyword:
        decision support systems clinical
        emergency service hospital
        HIV
        implementation science
        indicator conditions
        quality improvement
      ab: Introduction: Indicator condition (IC)-guided HIV testing is recommended internationally as a cost-effective strategy but remains inconsistently implemented, particularly in emergency departments (EDs). Electronic health record (EHR) alerts may improve adherence; however, real-world uptake depends on organizational and specialty-level determinants. Methods: Prospective case study conducted between August 2023 and April 2025. A non-interruptive EHR alert was triggered by predefined IC-related laboratory orders and antimicrobial prescriptions. Crucially, the alert was only fired if HIV serology was not already requested, meaning that the accepted tests represented true additional screening. Clinicians could accept or decline testing with a single click. Acceptance patterns were analyzed by age group, clinical service, weekday versus weekend, and diurnal versus nocturnal shifts. The analysis employed descriptive stratification to evaluate confounding between patient age and clinical service volume. Results: Among 3,240 alert activations, 523 were accepted (16.1%), resulting in 398 completed tests. Eight patients tested positive (2.01%), including four actionable cases (1.01%). Two declined alerts were followed by subsequent diagnoses of advanced HIV infection. The apparent lower uptake in younger patients was service-level confounded by the concentration of alerts within gynecology/obstetrics (53.7% of all alerts in 18-37-year-olds; global gynecology uptake 3.5%). Outside gynecology, baseline acceptance was consistently higher (15-38%) across all age categories, demonstrating that the apparent age gradient was profoundly confounded by service distribution. Conclusion: Apparent age-related differences in alert uptake were attenuated after stratification by service distribution rather than intrinsic clinician bias regarding patient age. Specialty culture, workflow alignment, and ownership of preventive tasks appear to be central to the adoption of digital alerts in ED settings.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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