Hep C positive result

[Almabella]

Hey everyone!

I'm a new nurse at a community clinic (an area of nursing I've been for a while), and this week i had my last day of orientation. The nurse training me in left an order for me as part of my "orientation" - to call a pt with a + hep c result.

In my heart of hearts I felt this was wrong. Apparently the pt has a hx of "suspected" IVDA (long term narcs use) and multiple tatoos, blah blah blah. Regardless, the pt is still a human being, and I feel no one should get this result over the phone! I clarified with the doc that she actually wanted me to call the pt with this and received a resounding yes.

What I don't get is, we can't give +HIV results over the phone, but we can give a + Hep C? Does this seem right to ya'll?

I think in the future I might just have the pt schedule an appt to RTC to review labs and too bad if the MD doesn't like it. I was kind of in a tough situation this week as I'm brand spankin new and don't want to start off stepping on toes... Just looking for feedback here.

Thanks!

Alma

[RNfromMN, BSN, RN]

Maybe when someone gets a test like this, they should be given an option of how they want to be notified. What's so hard about that? I wouldn't want to haul my butt into an office to be told the results of a test. What's so terrible about a phone call from either the nurse or the doctor?

I think this is the best suggestion. I think it all comes down to personal preference - I'm sure most people probably feel the same way you do - don't want to be bothered to come in for the results.

But I know for me - I don't have a lot of support at home, so I'd probably want someone there when I got the news (even if it was just a dr/nurse); also, since I work in healthcare, I'd have a million questions that I wouldn't be afraid to ask - I'd like to have the opportunity to do that, which isn't always the easiest thing to do over the phone.

I don't know - that's just me.

[Little Panda RN, ASN, RN]

The clinic I used to work at would have us call the patients at home to give them results of their lesion biopsies. It did not matter if was a cancer diagnosis or not. It used to bother me to call the elderly or anyone for that matter, and tell them that "your biopsy came back as squamous cell carcinoma, which means you have skin cancer". They always had so many questions that would have to be referred to the physician or NP. They wanted us to call with melanoma results but I always stated that I was not comftorable giving this result and would ask them to call themselves. I can understand the OP's concerns. It is difficult to be the one to give the bad news.

[whitebutterfly]

calling the patient to come to the hospital would be the best option i guess.