Nurse Practitioner Managed Care for Persons with HIV Infection |
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| Authors: | Linda H Aiken Eileen T Lake Salaam Semaan Heidi P Lehman Patricia A O'Hare C Suzanne Cole Deborah Dunbar Ian Frank |
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| Institution: | Trustee Professor of Nursing and Sociology and Director, Center for Health Services and Policy Research, University of Pennsylvania;Assistant Director, at the Center, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania;Senior Research Associate, Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania;nurse practitioner, Immunodeficiency Program, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania;Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Georgetown University;Research Fellow, Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania;Study Coordinator, AIDS Clinical Trials Unit, University of Pennsylvania;Assistant Professor, Infectious Diseases Section, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. |
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| Abstract: | This exploratory study examined whether outcomes of care for HIV-infected patients are related to whether the patient's primary provider is a physician (MD) or a nurse practitioner (NP). Functional status, symptom occurrence, self management, health service use and patients' assessment of their care were evaluated for 87 HIV-infected patients in a teaching hospital outpatient setting. NP patients were three times as likely to report their health status as only fair or poor (odds-ratio=3.06, p=.028), and reported significantly more unpleasant symptoms over a four-week period. Despite being in poorer health than patients cared for by physicians, NP patients functioned at comparable levels and used no more health care services than MD patients. NP patients reported 45 percent fewer problems with their care (p=0.003). Findings suggest that more extensive use of nurse practitioners could safely enhance access to care for persons with HIV-related illnesses. |
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| Keywords: | nurse practitioner HIV AIDS access to care |
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