Jane Tomnay: Centre for Excellence in Rural Sexual Health, The University of Melbourne Summary Partner Notification is important to: alert partners of their risk of contracting HIV and encourage them to seek testing. provide an opportunity for prophylaxis, testing and treatment if required prevent unwanted long-term sequelae. prevent inadvertent onward transmission. Partner Notification can be undertaken …
Partner notification refers to the process of informing the sexual partners of a person living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (or other sexually transmissible infections (STIs)) that they are at risk of acquiring HIV or an STI, and they should seek testing and, if infected, treatment. Partners sharing injecting equipment may also be at risk of …
Healthcare providers who diagnose a person with HIV should ensure that they discuss the need for partner notification with that person. If a person is diagnosed with HIV, then they have acquired their infection from another person, and possibly transmitted it to subsequent partners. Consideration of transmission risk in people who have HIV infection should …
The index case is a person newly diagnosed with HIV. The healthcare provider must raise with this person the possibility of notifying their partners of their risk and encouraging the partner/s to test. Partner notification is completely dependent on the index person being prepared to discuss the matter and to identify partners who have been …
Patient referral: the index patient informs the partner/s of their risk and encourages them to undertake HIV testing and/or HIV prophylaxis, if appropriate. Provider referral: a healthcare provider informs the partner/s of their risk of HIV whilst maintaining the confidentiality of the index person and encourages the partner/s to undertake HIV testing. Conditional referral: a …
Patient referral is by far the most used partner notification strategy in Australia. In this circumstance, it is important that healthcare providers discuss with the index person how they are going to carry out partner notification and determine the best time to do it. It is helpful to discuss different scenarios with the index person so …
Patient referral: how does this work in the clinical setting? Read More »
The index person may ask a healthcare provider to take on the responsibility of informing their sexual partner/s of the need for them to seek HIV testing. Experienced healthcare providers with a good understanding of HIV and who use sensitivity and a person-centred approach in their practice should be able to discuss partner notification with …
Provider referral: how does this work in the clinical setting? Read More »
This strategy is used when the index person agrees to contact their partners in the first instance but that they may also need to pass the task onto the healthcare provider after an agreed period if they have been unsuccessful.
Healthcare providers who undertake partner notification on a regular basis are often sexual health professionals who work in this specialty area. In Australia most of these are registered nurses who have the capacity to offer testing in the community when undertaking partner notification, which can be extremely beneficial particularly for those partners who may have …
Partner notification is an important part of the public health management of HIV and nurses, and Aboriginal health workers often play a key role. Partner notification should be raised with all people who are newly diagnosed with HIV. The aim is to reduce transmission and to prevent unwanted sequelae in those who are found to …
Developing a sustainable HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Workforce
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