The UCSF San Francisco Area AIDS Education and Training Center (SFAETC) offers a variety of no- or low-cost training, educational and professional development activities related to the clinical management of HIV/AIDS. Programs are designed to give busy clinicians the most current information they need to provide quality HIV care to patients and their families. Technical assistance and capacity-building/systems-strengthening support is also available to help expand the capacity of clinicians and health care organizations to provide timely and proper HIV/AIDS diagnosis and clinical care.
Download SFAETC brochure

The SFAETC Integrated Clinical Support Program (ICSP) provides customized in-service training, ongoing clinical consultation and educational support to Ryan White Program-funded and other community-based HIV/AIDS health care professionals and organizations throughout the Bay Area. Special emphasis is given to HIV and primary medical care sites that serve targeted populations, those unable to regularly participate in continuing medical education, and those that have not had previous access to HIV training.
Participating sites may include:

• HIV specialty clinics
• community health centers
• community-based organizations with active HIV medical caseloads
• hybrid clinical programs, where advanced practice nurses and mid-level practitioners bridge the connection between patients who are not traditionally in full HIV care and their HIV health care providers.

Programs can be delivered onsite and are customized to meet the needs of a specific clinical setting. Participating sites may complete an educational needs assessment, or a patient chart review to identify areas of learning need and interest.

Participation may be as brief as covering a requested topic in a single session or a few visits to the clinic site, or may be part of a continuous clinical consultation and training plan. Ongoing sessions may be scheduled throughout the program year to cover a variety of subjects in a regularly scheduled series.
Topics of special focus include:

• Implementation of CDC revised recommendations for HIV testing in health care settings.
• Antiretroviral therapies, especially starting, stopping and changing ARV regimens.
• HIV prevention in the clinical setting.
• Prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections associated with HIV disease and AIDS.
• Screening and management of major co-morbidities, including hepatitis co-infections.
• HIV, mental health and substance use.

For more information or to arrange for onsite training or clinical consultation, please call (415) 206-8730.

Download ICSP Information Sheet & Participating Site Application

Adult learning-oriented, skills-building workshop-style trainings address specific current topical issues related to the diagnosis and clinical management of HIV and AIDS. Topics for these classroom-based activities are identified through annual needs assessment activities. Some activities may be eligible for certain professional continuing education credit.

The SFAETC also offers training and educational programs designed for specific disciplines of health care professionals actively providing care to people with HIV/AIDS. We focus on clinical training and consultation for primary medical care providers, including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, dentists, and pharmacists.

See Calendar for current program offerings.

In every year since 1991, the rate of confirmed AIDS cases among U. S. prison inmates has been higher than in the general population. At yearend 2006, 1.6% of male inmates and 2.4% of female inmates in state and federal prisons were known to be HIV positive or to have confirmed AIDS. The overall rate of confirmed AIDS cases in state and federal prisons (0.46%) was more than 2.5 times higher than in the total U.S. population (0.17%) [1]. In California, there are over 1,600 prisoners or parolees identified as HIV+; approximately half are diagnosed with AIDS [2]. Current state law does not require mandatory testing to identify all HIV+ inmates, and the actual number of HIV+ prisoners is thought to be much higher, in the range of 5,000 - 8,000 [3].

Clinicians in correctional settings face extraordinary challenges in caring for HIV-infected patients, and often lack specialized training in HIV therapeutics and care. Medical care staff in correctional facilities frequently interact with HIV+ patients who may not have previously accessed care. In addition to HIV/AIDS, incarcerated populations are also disproportionately affected by higher rates of other communicable and chronic diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis [4]. Prison conditions can undermine adherence efforts essential to effective antiretroviral therapy, and gaps in treatment are common due to frequent transfers of inmates among correctional facilities [5]. Transitional care planning for HIV+ parolees is also challenging because of inconsistent access to care before, during and after incarceration. Because many inmates with HIV infection eventually return to the community, how correctional health care providers deal with HIV treatment within their institutions has important implications to the overall care of HIV-infected people in the community [6].

The UCSF San Francisco Area AETC (SFAETC) offers HIV clinical education and training to assist correctional health care providers with developing the HIV knowledge base and clinical skills necessary to provide care and treatment to a challenging population. HIV/AIDS Training for Correctional Health Care Providers training programs and other educational activities are designed to meet the requirements for funding under the Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) by addressing the HIV training needs of a specific population of health care providers (correctional health professionals) caring for minority patients. In California, minority populations are over-represented in the prison system as a whole, as well as among HIV+ inmates and parolees.
Our goals are to:

• Train correctional institution clinicians on the current status of prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS and related co-morbid.
• Improve linkage to and continuity of care in the community for recently released inmates with HIV/AIDS.

SFAETC offers a customized HIV/AIDS Clinical Training Preceptorship (CTP) program for primary medical care providers, nursing professionals, and clinical pharmacists seeking to increase their HIV expertise and clinical management skills. CTPs are customized, individually arranged “mini-residency”-style programs that are scheduled over three (3) to five (5) consecutive days, depending on preference and availability (including availability of faculty and other program resources). Participants are usually expected to be available the entire day (8:00 am to 5:00 pm) for each consecutive day.
CTP program components may include (but are not limited to) any or all of the following:

• Didactic topical seminars and/or one-on-one or small group, case-based Consultative Learning Sessions covering the latest information on HIV clinical issues
• Self-study and assessment, including Internet-based learning activities
• Clinical preceptorships/observational experiences individually arranged with various HIV clinical practitioners and programs in the Bay Area
• Local clinical site visits and case conferencing
• Participation in concurrent training activities, such as attending a Current Issues in HIV Care series program or HIV Nursing Intensive program
• Participation in or observation of National HIV/AIDS Clinicians’ Consultation Center technical assistance or Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) programs, such as the HIV Resistance Consultation Panel or HIV Sub-Specialty CQI meeting
• Other HIV/AIDS-specific educational and clinical training activities as appropriate and available.

CTP programs emphasize comprehensive HIV primary care, including early intervention and prevention strategies; antiretroviral therapies; management of opportunistic infections and malignancies; and attention to psychosocial issues.

Target Audience and Participant Eligibility
Participation in Clinical Training Preceptorship programs is limited to health care professionals from the PAETC region only (physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, and pharmacists in Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada only) who are actively engaged in or about to assume responsibility for the treatment and care of people with HIV and AIDS. Providers from San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties have priority for SFAETC Clinical Training Preceptorships. As a HRSA/Ryan White Program-funded educational resource, priority may be given to medical care providers working with RW-funded programs. When necessary other selection criteria may include HIV/AIDS care experience and current learning needs, geographic location, and scheduling flexibility.

Participant Costs & Responsibilities
There is a non-refundable $25.00 Registration Fee to defray the cost of educational materials. Participants are responsible for their own travel/transportation and personal expenses while attending CTP programs in San Francisco.

Continuing Education
As part of each individualized program schedule, the CTP provides resources and protected study time to earn professional continuing education credit available through self-study and online learning activities.

For more information or to request an application for a Clinical Training Preceptorship, please contact SFAETC at (415) 206-8730 or via e-mail to sfaetc@ucsf.edu.

Since 1994, perinatal transmission of HIV has been greatly reduced among HIV-positive women through therapies given to birthing mothers before and during delivery, and to infants after birth. The U.S. Public Health Service, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Pediatrics all recommend HIV testing for pregnant women. Although great strides have been made in identifying and testing HIV-infected women, those who have not received prenatal care and were not offered HIV counseling and testing are one of the groups still at high risk for transmitting HIV to their infants. Women in California continue to present to L&D units with undocumented HIV status, putting the health of the laboring woman and her child at unnecessary risk.

As part of ongoing HIV prevention efforts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has requested that the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), State Office of AIDS (SOA) offer assistance to hospitals with implementation of HIV rapid testing in California Labor and Delivery facilities ("RTLD"). SOA has contracted with the Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center (PAETC) to provide training and technical assistance to hospitals in support of the goal of implementing HIV rapid testing in L&D units. PAETC clinicians and program staff are available to help assess the ability, readiness, and/or current practice of conducting HIV rapid tests for laboring women who present to L&D with undocumented HIV status. This no-cost training and technical assistance opportunity is available to hospitals THROUGH DECEMBER 2009.

Technical assistance support and training efforts are tailored to each site, and may include any of the following:

• Resources and background materials that support the need for and efforts to identify HIV status in laboring women.
  
• Technical advice on applying to CDHS Lab Field Services for approval to offer HIV rapid testing.
  
• Information on currently available rapid testing technologies (i.e., cost, methods, sensitivity, etc.).
  
• Sample policies, procedures, protocols, and forms used for conducting rapid testing in labor and delivery.
  
• Training and consultation for staff on issues related to:
  
  • Implementation: e.g., initiating the HIV testing discussion with laboring women; gaining consent; laboratory procedures; how and when results are given; medication protocols for HIV medications to administer in L&D and postpartum.
    
• Staff concerns related to systems changes, additional and new tasks, and identifying and working with HIV-infected women.
  
• Information on and linkage to the National Perinatal HIV Consultation and Referral Service (Perinatal Hotline, offering 24-hour expert advice).

The SFAETC provides administrative and educational support for the SFDPH HIV Nursing Network, a network of nursing and social work professionals who care for patients with HIV/AIDS within the San Francisco Department of Public Health or one if its safety net contractors. The goal of the HIV Nursing Network is to encourage nurses working with HIV/AIDS patients and clients to meet and connect with one another in order to share information and ideas for providing the most comprehensive care for clients and patients as they move from one setting/agency to another throughout the SFDPH continuum of care.

All interested HIV Nursing Network members are encouraged to sign up for the Network's online GoogleGroup, and the HIVNURSINGNET listserv (electronic distribution list). These are the primary means of communication for the HIV Nursing Network.