Prevention Strategies Against HIV Transmission: A Proactive Approach

Concordance of emergency department physicians' decisions on HIV post-exposure prophylaxis with national guidelines: results from a retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is an effective tool to prevent infection with HIV. Patients seeking PEP after potential HIV exposure usually present to the emergency department (ED). Our study sought to determine the concordance of ED physicians' decisions on HIV-PEP with national guidelines (primary objective) and to assess the clinical relevance of drug-drug interactions (DDIs) between the HIV-PEP regimen and patients' concomitant medication (secondary objective).

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study at the ED of Hannover Medical School, Germany. Between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2019, 113 of 11 246 screened patients presented to the ED after potential HIV exposure and were enrolled in the study.

RESULTS

The median age of the patients (82.3% male) was 30 y (IQR 25-35.5), 85.8% of potential HIV exposures were characterised as sexual and 85.0% presented within 72 h. ED physicians' decisions on HIV-PEP were concordant with national guidelines in 93.8%. No clinically relevant DDIs were detected.

CONCLUSIONS

ED physicians' decisions on HIV-PEP were highly concordant with national guidelines. Approximately 1% of patient presentations to the ED were related to HIV exposure; therefore, training ED physicians on HIV transmission risk assessment and indications/contraindications for HIV-PEP is paramount.

Assessment of HIV-postexposure prophylaxis prescription quality after a training programme and assistance in decisions provided by a computer-based decision program: a cross-over study

BACKGROUND

Among the tools for preventing HIV transmission, post-exposureprophylaxis (PEP) is an effective means after potential HIV exposure.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate aPEP training program and acomputer-baseddecision program (CBDP) using simulated patients in emergency department (ED) on the quality of PEP prescription.

METHODS

This cross-overstudy, carried out from 7January2019 to 28June2019, included 20 ED physicians from 10 tertiary referral hospitals. Intervention consisted of two parts: Period Aassessed physicians' compliance with PEP prescription guidelines before and after atraining program, using 400 post-exposuremedical records (200 occupational and 200 non-occupational). Period Bconsisted of arandomized crossover study involving 40 simulated patients, with physicians using or not using aCBDP. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of PEP prescription in accordance with the guidelines were assessed.

RESULTS

In period A, alpha Cronbach was less than 0.7 whereas it increased after the training to be >0.7. Sensitivity increased, especially for occupational patients ranging from 51.8%-66.6% to 70.4%-90.1%, whereas specificity increased for non-occupationalpatients ranging from 15.5%-51.9% to 52.1%-75.3%. In period B, sensitivity, specificity, and rate of complete assessments significantly increased (p < 0.0001) after the initiation of CBDP. Rate of PEP prescription significantly decreased (p < 0.001) for all subcategories.

CONCLUSION

Significant recommendations-discordantprescriptions, mainly overprescription, occurred for patients visiting ED for PEP. Training improved quality of PEP prescription but the reduction was modest. The availability of CBDP improved quality of PEP prescription and allowed for better data collection and reduction of PEP prescription.

Pre-exposure Prophylaxis: The Delivery Challenge

HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), despite its efficacy, has been slow in uptake throughout the world. This article discusses the operational and service delivery complexity, based on early real-world experience, with some recommendations on how this promising intervention could be made more available. Currently, access to PrEP is made complex by restricting delivery to dedicated health facilities, as well as requirements around HIV testing and toxicity monitoring. Expanding to verticalized services that focus on well-defined populations where HIV testing and treatment programmes already exist, has proven relatively simple. Providing PrEP outside of this environment has yet to be demonstrated at any scale, and will likely require innovative thinking addressing the regulatory and clinical environment, so as to ensure easier access to this promising HIV prevention tool.