Professor and Class,
The current news article identified is “False-negative COVID-19 test results may lead to a false sense of security” by Mayo Clinic (2020). The article calls for attention to the risk associated with overdependence on the testing kits for COVI-19 in making clinical and public health decisions. The article also reports that the reports on the sensitivity of the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing and its overall test performance characteristics are not consistent or clear in the medical literature. It emphasizes the need for health care providers as well as public health officials to develop a comprehensive understanding on the limits and effects on false test results in the endeavors to fight the covid-19 pandemic.
As a healthcare professional, this raises various ethical questions as well as concerns. Among these concerns is how can we manage to deliver safe patient care and promote beneficence if the testing kits we use in testing covid-19 are questionable? What happens to a patient who receive false positive tests. This can affect their physical and mental health, leading to nurses failure to promote non-maleficence. How can we protect patients from the negative consequences of false covid-19 tests?
A community health nurse (CHNs) can be involved in this health care policy issue as a change agent by educating the legislators on this concern and soliciting funding on medical research and scientific studies to develop more reliable and valid testing kits (Nies & McEwen, 2019). The CHN can also be involved by participating in research concerning covid-19 testing kits to identify any useful evidence that can aid in the development of better testing procedures (Bedford et al., 2020). The CHNs can also educate nurses and other health care professionals to enhance their understanding of the effects of false test results and how to address them (Nies & McEwen, 2019).
References
Bedford, J., Enria, D., Giesecke, J., Heymann, D. L., Ihekweazu, C., Kobinger, G., … & Ungchusak, K. (2020). COVID-19: towards controlling of a pandemic. The Lancet.
Mayo Clinic. (2020, April 9). False-negative COVID-19 test results may lead to false sense of security. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 13, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200409144805.htm (Links to an external site.)
Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2019). Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations (7th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.