A Guide to Primary Care of People with HIV/AIDS - Canadian Public ...

A Guide to Primary Care of People with HIV/AIDS
Chapter 18: Keeping Up-To-Date: Sources of Information for the Practicing Clinician
Chapter 18:
Keeping Up-To-Date: Sources of Information
for the Provider
Bruce D. Agins MD, MPH
OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW
HUMAN RESOURCES
WRITTEN RESOURCES
ELECTRONIC AND WEB-BASED RESOURCES
INTEGRATING HIV SPECIALTY INTO PRACTICE
KEY POINTS
SUGGESTED RESOURCES
Doesn ’t the Guide itself provide sufficient
information about HIV care?
At a pace unlike that in any other field, rapid change
characterizes the field of clinical HIV medicine.
Fortunately, opportunities to stay current with the fastpaced
changes in science and practice are available
through a variety of sources.
What kinds of resources are available for
keeping up-to-date?
One approach to identifying educational resources
for providers is to consider them an expanding circle
of information sources, starting at the local level,
and finally reaching the globally available web of
information on the Internet. Resources can also be
grouped by type of information delivery:
Human Resources Conferences, training workshops,
case-based presentations, educational consultations
(in-person, telephone, distance-learning),
preceptorships, audio tapes, video tapes
Written Materials Books, journals, newsletters, selfassessment,
slides, handouts
Web-Based Information Downloadable articles,
webcasts, resource directories, search engines,
listserves, e-newsletters
What kind of standards are available to assure
that HIV providers are keeping up-to-date?
Professional associations and State governments have
developed policies defining HIV specialists that specify
the number of patients that providers should directly
manage in order to qualify for this experience-driven
classification, reinforcing through regulations and
requirements the simple notion that providers need to
Renslow Sherer, MD
Caroline J. Teter, PA-C, MPH
keep current in order to provide good care. See
last section, Integrating HIV Specialty into Practice,
for details.
HUMAN RESOURCES
How do you identify what’s available in your
own community?
The single most important step in obtaining current
information is to identify local resources. The first step
is to determine whether any HIV experts are practicing
nearby who provide care to with HIV in the community.
HIV specialists are an important source of information
– not only about clinical practice, but also about
educational opportunities in the area. Local hospitals
or clinics may offer grand rounds on topics in HIV
clinical care or continuing education programs. Local
infectious disease societies or HIV medical associations
may sponsor meetings at which new information is
disseminated. Every region in the United States is
targeted by a regional AIDS Education and Training
Center (AETC), funded by the HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB)
of the Health Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA), that offers a menu of educational programs
designed to fit the specific needs of practicing providers,
including physicians, mid-level practitioners, nurses,
and dentists (see Figure 18-1).
AETC educational sessions also present excellent
opportunities to make personal contact with clinical
experts. Establishing relationships with local experts
can lead to ongoing communication about advances
in care, telephone consultations when needed, and
the potential for referrals when patient management
becomes especially complicated, such as when drug
resistance occurs or salvage therapy is required,
prompting changes in antiretroviral therapy (ART).
18
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, HIV/AIDS Bureau
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