USHER Trial Examines Barriers to HIV Testing in the ED

Obstacles persist in HIV testing in the emergency department (ED), according to survey findings published in the January 2012 Journal of Emergency Medicine. Researchers engineered the Universal Screening for HIV-infection in the Emergency Room (USHER) trial to determine if such testing can take place in the ED (per 2006 CDC recommendations) while respecting the acute care setting’s demands (per the American College of Emergency Physicians’ 2007 recommendations). Healthcare practitioners were surveyed immediately before and six months after a testing initiative was instituted.