Service provision to persons with or at risk for hepatitis C (HCV) has become an important goal for local health departments across the nation. The shared routes of HIV and HCV, the high coinfection rate of HIV/HCV, and the lack of federal or state funding to support HCV programs are reasons for integrating hepatitis C screening and treatment services into existing HIV/AIDS programs. Such an integration of health services conserves resources. This article reviews the development and progress of a county public health department program's integration of HIV/AIDS and HCV services and provides recommendations for other HIV/AIDS programs that might be considering integration of HIV/AIDS and HCV services.
To meet the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and the need for a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-competent primary care workforce, education and training of nurse practitioners are critical. The University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing developed and implemented an HIV primary care curriculum and evaluated this curriculum for a graduating cohort of 55 students. Results show gains in students' HIV knowledge and confidence in providing basic HIV care and improvements in attitudes toward people living with HIV. We have been able to show that HIV content can be successfully integrated into a nurse practitioner generalist curriculum.
The increasing demand for primary care services and the current health care workforce shortage is predicted to cause drastic reductions in the number of clinicians who are competent to provide HIV care. For the past decade, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing has provided HIV specialty education for Advanced Practice Nursing students in the Master's curriculum. In 2013, UCSF was funded by the Health Resources Services Administration to establish a nurse practitioner (NP) HIV primary care education program to expand the number of NPs prepared to provide culturally appropriate comprehensive HIV primary care. To this end, UCSF faculty have developed and validated a set of HIV Primary Care entry-level NP competencies, integrated general HIV knowledge into the NP curriculum, and enhanced our current HIV Specialty curriculum and clinical training. Described herein is UCSF's Integrated HIV/AIDS Primary Care Capacity Nurse Practitioner Program.
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