Interprofessional student team development of an annual wellness visit for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and care

Abstract

People living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) experience a variety of pathophysiological events and adverse psychosocial consequences, contributing to considerable morbidity even as mortality due to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) continues to decline in the era of anti-retroviral therapy. The prevention and management of newly diagnosed HIV cases requires a highly integrated, team-based approach across a variety of health professions. To prepare the next generation of providers, interprofessional education (IPE) represents a rapidly expanding global initiative where current and future health professionals learn with, from, and about each other to improve health care outcomes. Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans has established Team Up, a two-year longitudinal IPE curriculum integrated across all six professional schools. At the end of the second year, diverse student teams develop plans for a comprehensive and patient-centered interprofessional wellness visit, strategy for implementation, and poster presentation focused on primary or secondary prevention specific to an age or medical condition. Here, we describe designs for an interprofessional annual wellness visit centered around HIV prevention and care from two consecutive student teams (2020-21 and 2021-22 cohorts). Factors of time and cost (including billing codes and fees) for the screening were considered, and an informational resource list for HIV management and prevention was also included. The 2020-21 team (Team 1, n=12) was comprised of audiology, clinical laboratory sciences, dental, medical, nursing, and physical therapy students. The 2021-22 team (Team 52, n=10) was comprised of clinical laboratory sciences, dental, dental hygiene, medical, nursing, physical therapy, physician assistant, and speech language pathology students. For this cohort, students were also asked to consider a female patient in the “most disadvantaged” category according to Area Health Education Center (AHEC) guidelines. Students from both cohorts recommended additional local and national resources from an interprofessional lens that would be valuable for HIV prevention and care. Teams communicated the benefits of an interprofessional assessment from the patient/community perspective as well as from the provider’s perspective. Challenges to implementation as well as solutions were also provided. At the end of each year, cohorts presented their posters in virtual format to their fellow classmates and faculty facilitators and reflected on IPE core competencies developed by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC). We believe that these efforts represent an effective educational tool to equip future health providers with interprofessional team-based experiences to improve future prevention and management of HIV and related co-morbidities. NIAAA P60AA009803 This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.