What Types of Physicians Are Best to Treat Patients with HIV?

Article

Physicians with expertise or a specialty in HIV deliver better quality of care to patients with active HIV, reports Bruce Landon, Harvard Medical School associate professor of healthcare policy, and colleagues in the May 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. The paper examined eight different areas of quality of care in the areas of antiretroviral drug use, screening and prophylaxis, and delivery of routine services for more than 5,200 patients with active HIV.

 

They found that infectious disease (ID) physicians and general medicine physicians with expertise in HIV had similar performance and delivered higher quality of care than nonexpert generalists. More than 80 percent of the patients being cared for by ID physicians were receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy, compared with 73 percent of patients of nonexpert generalists. Thirty-one percent of patients being cared for by nonexpert generalists had their viral load controlled, compared with 39 percent of patients for expert generalists and 41 percent for ID specialists. Nonexpert generalists also gave flu vaccinations less frequently and saw their patients less often. Of the 177 physicians examined in the study, 58 percent were generalists and 42 percent were ID specialists. Sixty-three percent of the generalists (37 percent overall) considered themselves expert in HIV care.

 

Source: Harvard Medical School

Newsletter

Stay prepared and protected with Infection Control Today's newsletter, delivering essential updates, best practices, and expert insights for infection preventionists.

Recent Videos
David J. Weber, MD, MPH, president of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
Brenna Doran PhD, MA, hospital epidemiology and infection prevention for the University of California, San Francisco, and a coach and consultant of infection prevention; Jessica Swain, MBA, MLT, director of infection prevention and control for Dartmouth Health in Lebanon, New Hampshire; and Shanina Knighton, associate professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Nursing and senior nurse scientist at MetroHealth System in Cleveland, Ohio
Brenna Doran PhD, MA, hospital epidemiology and infection prevention for the University of California, San Francisco, and a coach and consultant of infection prevention; Jessica Swain, MBA, MLT, director of infection prevention and control for Dartmouth Health in Lebanon, New Hampshire; and Shanina Knighton, associate professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Nursing and senior nurse scientist at MetroHealth System in Cleveland, Ohio
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.