Nurses and
physician assistants offer better HIV care than GPs

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants at HIV clinics in the United States provide a quality of care to HIV patients comparable to that offered by doctors who are HIV specialists and better than that of general practitioners, according to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Reuters Health reports. Researchers in Boston examined medical records of more than 6.600 HIV patients using eight quality-of-care measures and found that nurses and physician assistants offered a quality of care similar to HIV specialists and better than general doctors. On two of the measures, nurses and physician assistants even offered better care than doctors trained as HIV specialists.

The researchers say that their findings applied only to nurses and physician assistants who specialize in treating HIV, have considerable experience with HIV patients, and have easy access to a doctor who is an HIV specialist for consultation. They also say their findings are especially relevant to rural and inner-city areas of the country, where access to HIV specialists--or even to a general practitioner--is difficult and most health care is provided by physician assistants or nurse practitioners. (Advocate.com)