14th Annual Conference of the British HIV Association 23-25 April 2008, Belfast

CLINICAL MENTORING: A FAST WAY TO ADDRESS THE SHORTAGE OF TRAINED HEALTH WORKERS FOR SUCCESSFUL ART SCALE-UP IN RESOURCE-LIMITED SETTINGS

HIV Med 2008; 9(Suppl. 1):10 (abstract no. P3)

S Aggett¹, M Nelson², M Charles¹, B Boyle³ and R Mair^1
1 International Centre for Equal Healthcare Access (UK), London, UK, ² Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, UK, ³ Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, USA

BACKGROUND: Although HIV/AIDS treatment programs with affordable antiretroviral medications (ARVs) are now in place in many developing countries, the implementation of successful treatment programs has been severely hampered by the lack of local health workers who are trained in both clinical HIV/AIDS care and operational clinic management. Western doctors and nurses providing hands-on clinical mentoring to local providers are an invaluable resource to rapidly create systems for sustainable HIV care.

METHODS: In ICEHA's HIV clinical mentoring programs, assessments of local health providers' skills and the existing clinic systems are conducted at the beginning and end of mentor assignments using validated 4-point scales to determine change over time.

RESULTS:Between 09/2004 and 11/2007, ICEHA provided clinical mentoring and HIV training to 1350 healthcare workers across 10 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America resulting in HIV care for tens of thousands of patients in areas where no care existed previously. As a result of these programs, the ability of local caregivers to select patients for ART and to administer ART was optimized as was their knowledge of medication adherence, ability to provide pre and post test counselling, skills to conduct patient exams, and ability to coordinate optimal clinical management (including clinic flow and patient record systems).

CONCLUSIONS: Clinical mentoring, in collaboration with national government HIV/AIDS programs, has a dramatic impact on improving the clinical skills and knowledge of local providers in developing counties. This creates sustainable patient care and enables clinics to manage increasing numbers of patients on treatment with existing healthcare staff.

2008-04-23
P3

Copyright © 2008 - British HIV Association (BHIVA) Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the BHIVA Organising Secretariat 1 Mountview Court, 310 Friern Barnet Lane, London N20 0LD