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Background: Several of the District’s communicable disease programs were integrated into the HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and TB Administration (HAHSTA) in October 2009. Since then, program staff has collaborated with providers to integrate HIV partner services (PS) into their practices by developing a protocol, disseminating a provider tool kit, and providing on-going trainings.
Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of the PS trainings in improving provider partner elicitation of HIV positive patients.
Methods: PS trainings were half-day sessions which included an overview of PS, a review of the forms, and role playing. Provider training rosters were crossed-matched with the submitted PS forms from October 1, 2009 – September 30, 2011.
Results:
Fifty two providers attended 18 trainings during this time and 605 PS forms were submitted – 596 from trained providers and 9 from untrained providers. Of the 254 (41.9%) forms that were not followed due to previous positive status or insufficient information to conduct an investigation – 253 were from trained providers and 1 was from untrained providers. Of the 351 (58.1%) forms that were investigated – 343 were from trained providers and 8 were from untrained providers. Of the 36 (10.5%) forms that led to partner elicitation – 33 were from trained providers and 3 were from untrained providers. Of the 46 partners elicited – 40 were from trained providers (contact index = 1.2) and 6 were from untrained providers (contact index = 2.0).
Conclusions: Although PS training increased the number of forms submitted, it did not increase the percentage of submitted forms that led to partner elicitation (9.6% versus 37.5%) or number of partners per case ultimately elicited. HAHSTA needs to explore alternate ways of providing HIV partner services.
Implications for Programs, Policy, and Research: Identify and problem solve factors associated with limited partner elicitation from providers and identify more effective PS methodologies.