Educating and engaging patients in their care is a critical consideration for how to implement an effective routine screening program. However, lack of staff training or knowledge on infectious disease control contributes to the uneven division of labor, reduces the likelihood of routine screening and can cause missteps in follow up and linkage to care.

Clinicians are often left with the burden of calling the patient back to counsel on positive results in addition to their demanding clinical workload. Some clinicians who lack counseling skills may be intimidated by sharing positive results and thus may skip routine screening all together. Empowering every member of the care team with education and equipping the care team with health coach training can help overcome these concerns.

• Knowledge gaps exist across members of the care team who may not know the steps to take or the latest HIV or STI treatments 
• Access to patient-centric material to distribute is needed
• Patients do not understand the behaviors associated with HIV, STIs, viral hepatitis or LTBI, especially if they do not identify with the stereotypical population disproportionately affected 
• Additional training on how to provide sensitive counseling of post-test results is needed
• Time for clinicians and staff members to effectively communicate results and counsel with respect to the patient’s privacy needs to be allocated

1. Empower every member of the care team with education 

   1. Providing in-depth, disease-specific education sessions for every member of the care team on the need for routine screening and how to conduct it, engenders greater empathy for the patient and boosts confidence to answer questions rather than deferring to the lead clinician. 

   2. Related resources

   3. Training and education for the care team on HIV, STIs, viral hepatitis and LTBI essentials: The following links are a compilation of education and training resources from the CDC targeted to health care professionals. These training materials can be leveraged to ensure that your care team members are equipped with the latest information to help boost the confidence of any member of the care team in answering patient questions.
      • HIV/ AIDS Training for Public Health Professionals from the National Prevention Information Network
      • HIV Training Resources
      • Hepatitis Training resources from the National Prevention Information Network
      • Viral Hepatitis Training Resources
      • STD Prevention Training from the National Prevention Information Network
      • STD Continuing Online Education
      • Tuberculosis training resources from the National Prevention Information Network
      • TB 101 for Health Care Workers
      • Core Curriculum on Tuberculosis: What the Clinician Should Know 

2. Have patient education materials available at visit completion

   1. Having patient friendly education materials at discharge is important piece of patient care.

   2. Related resources

   3. Patient Education Materials from the CDC: These links compile downloadable patient education materials from the CDC with resources targeted to different patient demographics and available in multiple languages. 
      • HIV
      • Viral hepatitis
      • STIs
      • LTBI
   4. JAMA Network™ Patient Pages: JAMA Patient Pages are free patient resources designed to distill high-quality evidence and updated guidance from USPSTF into a more accessible patient friendly format to help guide patient decisions.
   5. HIV
      • Human Immunodeficiency Virus
      • Who Should Be Screened for HIV Infection?
      • Can HIV Infection Be Prevented With Medication?
      • HIV Infection: The Basics
   6. Viral hepatitis
      • Screening for Hepatitis B in Nonpregnant Adolescents and Adults
      • Screening for Hepatitis B in Pregnant Women
      • Screening for Hepatitis C Virus Infection
      • Treating Hepatitis C
   7. STIs
      • Screening and Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
      • Screening for Syphilis in Pregnant Women
      • Screening for Syphilis
   8. LTBI
      • Screening for Latent Tuberculosis
      • Tuberculosis

3. In absence of dedicated staff, invest in counseling training 

   1. In the absence of patient navigators, health coach training could help the care to develop skills to educate and communicate with patients more effectively, leading to increased comfort with screening and counseling.

   2. Related resources

   • AMA STEPS Forward®: Health Coaching: This learning module from AMA STEPS Forward® outlines steps to help you develop and implement a health coaching model in your practice.

Disclaimer: This page contains resources supplied by third party organizations. Inclusion of these materials on this page does not imply endorsement of these resources or corresponding organization.

The HIV, STIs, Viral Hepatitis and LTBI Routine Screening Toolkit is organized across the screening continuum and offers helpful resources and best practices for the care team.

Step 1: Community outreach

Step 2: Patient intake

Step 3: Initiating standard screening protocols

Step 4: Testing and diagnosis

Step 5: Patient education and post-test counseling

Step 6: Linkage to care