Please Read the Clinical Scenario, and Then Answer the Question

question 41

Multiple Choice

Please read the clinical scenario, and then answer the question that follow to become familiar with the traditional NCLEX question format.
Jared is a 34-year-old male who has reported several weeks of general malaise, and a low-grade fever. You are a nurse working for the public health department, and you are corresponding with Jared concerning the results of his laboratory testing.
-Jared had an ELISA test sent for HIV screening,which came back positive.You tell Jared that this is a highly sensitive test,but not as specific.Jared is understandably confused.You apologize for using medical jargon,and then clarify in which of the following ways?

• A)"It's possible that this is a false-positive result,since the test may have been positive for something other than HIV."
• B)"It's unlikely that this is a false-positive result,since the test is so specific it doesn't miss a positive result."
• C)"It's possible that this is a false-positive result,since high specificity means the tests are rarely accurate."
• D)"It's unlikely that this is a false-positive result,since we've never misdiagnosed HIV based on this test."

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Definitions:

Reliability

How much a testing tool generates consistent and stable outputs over various times.

Validity

Refers to the extent to which a concept, conclusion or measurement is well-founded and likely corresponds accurately to the real world.

Accuracy

The degree to which a measurement or estimation matches the true value or standard.

Reliability

The degree to which an assessment tool produces stable and consistent results over multiple measurements.