• Samuel R Bunting, Sarah S Garber, Robert H Goldstein, Timothy D Ritchie, Tamzin J Batteson, and Timothy J Keyes.
• Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, USA. Samuel.Bunting@my.rfums.org.
• J Gen Intern Med. 2020 Oct 1; 35 (10): 287328812873-2881.

BackgroundDaily, oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an effective and safe prevention strategy for people at risk for HIV. However, prescription of PrEP has been limited for patients at the highest risk. Disparities in PrEP prescription are pronounced among racial and gender minority patients. A significant body of literature indicates that practicing healthcare providers have little awareness and knowledge of PrEP. Very little work has investigated the education about PrEP among health professionals in training.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to compare health professions students' awareness of PrEP and education about PrEP between regions of the US, and to determine if correlations between regional HIV incidence and PrEP use were present.DesignSurvey study.ParticipantsA cross-sectional sample of health professions students (N = 1859) representing future prescribers (MD, DO, PA), pharmacists, and nurses in the US.Key ResultsOverall, 83.4% of students were aware of PrEP, but only 62.2% of fourth-year students indicated they had been taught about PrEP at any time during their training. Education about PrEP was most comprehensive in the Northeastern US, the area with the highest PrEP to need ratio (4.7). In all regions, transgender patients and heterosexual men and women were least likely to be presented in education as PrEP candidates, and men who have sex with men were the most frequently presented.ConclusionsThere are marked differences in education regarding PrEP both between academic programs and regions of the USA.

22 keywords...

hide…