Harold Sarmiento, DNP, AGPCNP-BC

Abstract:

Background: Around 1.2 million people in the United States (U.S.) are currently infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2021). Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), an essential tool in HIV prevention, is safe and highly effective in preventing HIV infection. However, PrEP remains underutilized among primary care providers (PCPs) (CDC, 2021). According to CDC (2021), the low adoption and implementation of PrEP among PCPs are multifactorial, including a lack of knowledge, perceived appropriateness, limited time, and lack of target incentives. Because of these reasons, many PCPs do not prescribe PrEP and refer their at-risk patients to infectious disease (ID) providers. Thus, interventions to increase PCPs’ knowledge and prescription of PrEP as an HIV prevention strategy are needed.

Objectives: This PrEP educational intervention (PrEP-EI) aims to provide PCPs an in-depth knowledge of PrEP to help them implement and prescribe PrEP in their clinical practice. Methods: A comprehensive virtual one-hour PrEP-EI was implemented for PCPs in a large health system in Los Angeles. PrEP-EI was recorded for those PCPs who were unable to attend the live session. The project design was quasi-experimental and used pre-test and post-test surveys. PCPs’ PrEP knowledge was measured and compared pre- and post- PrEP-EI. Paired t-test was used to assess the comparison of pre-and post-test surveys. Results: A total of 35 PCPs attended both PrEP-EI sessions. Paired t-test showed a significant difference between the pre-and post-surveys of PrEP knowledge among PCPs (p<0.05). Before the PrEP-EI, participants had a knowledge score of 60%. After the PrEP-EI, their knowledge score increased to 90.86%.

Conclusion: PrEP-EI has been shown to increase PrEP knowledge among PCPs. This finding supports the importance of PrEP-EI among PCPs to help them prescribe PrEP to their at-risk patients. Establishing PCPs' knowledge and competence of PrEP is critical to facilitating their adoption and prescription of PrEP in their clinical practice.

Click here to see the full manuscript.