Using a student-led, community-specific training module to increase PrEP uptake amongst at-risk populations: results from an exploratory pilot implementation

ABSTRACT

HIV incidence continues to be a significant global and domestic public health concern. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is safe and effective in preventing HIV. PrEP uptake in the populations at risk for HIV has been slow and unequal. One reason for this is low levels of provider knowledge about PrEP. Prior training initiatives have focused exclusively on prescribers, which overlooks a substantial number of professionals who interact with patients. A novel method of training was designed and implemented by an interprofessional student team. The training module was purposely designed with community specificity about the patients at the highest risk for new HIV infections. Assessment of this training initiative occurred by query of electronic medical records to determine changes in the number of prescriptions for PrEP following the training intervention. Results indicate this student-led initiative was effective in providing education about PrEP, which translated to changes in PrEP prescription.

KEYWORDS:

• Pre-exposure prophylaxis
• interprofessional
• community education
• population health
• healthcare access
• HIV prevention

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Samuel R. Bunting http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2186-5460