Date of this Version

7-22-2021

Document Type

DNP Project

Abstract

Abstract

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an important tool for reducing population HIV infection rates. PrEP has systemic implications for improving patient and population health as well as for reducing the medical costs to provide care for the HIV infected patient. In many instances, provider knowledge of PrEP serves as a primary limitation for recommending this treatment for patients. To overcome these issues, a quality improvement project was designed utilizing a quasi-experimental pre-/post-intervention methodology to compare two approaches to provider education to increase PrEP knowledge: a pamphlet and academic detailing. Providers in the pamphlet group (n = 15) received passive education to increase knowledge while providers in the academic detailing group (n = 15) received individualized one-on-one education to acquire knowledge of PrEP. Baseline knowledge of PrEP was measured in both groups and paired t-tests were utilized to determine if statistically significant changes in provider knowledge of PrEP occurred following the educational intervention. Both groups demonstrated an increase in knowledge following education. However, when the mean knowledge scores for the pamphlet and the academic detailing group were compared, knowledge gains were noted to be higher in the academic detailing group. The results were shown to be statistically significant (p = 0.001). Limitations of the project included a lack of generalizability of the findings along with the need to demonstrate causality in the findings. Based on the results obtained and the limitations recommendations are made to expand investigation into provider education for PrEP prescribing while also providing follow-up assessments to determine if increased provider education does lead to increased patient access to PrEP via provider prescribing.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, PrEP, provider education, academic detailing

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