Interdisciplinary HIV care – patient perceptions

The purpose of this paper is to gauge patients’ service perceptions of an interdisciplinary human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) clinic, which uses infectious disease physicians, medical residents, clinical pharmacists, nurses, social workers and students in HIV primary-care delivery.

Adult patients coming to the HIV clinic for a return visit to the interdisciplinary team completed a questionnaire based on a previously validated HIV-specific patient satisfaction study (n=104). Fourteen modified items assessing overall care-quality and ten original items assessing interdisciplinary services were included.

Respondents reported high satisfaction levels with the clinic's services. The mean score for the care-quality items was 3.79 (possible 4). The interdisciplinary care items mean score was 3.69 (possible 4). For non-physician disciplines, respondents indicated that nurses, pharmacists and social workers played important roles in their clinic care.

Bias associated with patient selection and survey methods limit the generalizability. The study has implications for measuring interdisciplinary care provided at HIV clinics.

This HIV outpatient care interdisciplinary model is not widely in use. Results are important for those involved in HIV service development and improvement. Findings support integrating non-physician providers into routine outpatient HIV medical visits.