Good solutions have great roadmaps.
For HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the road map might just be that of contraceptive care. Once an onerous process, over time contraceptive care exploded into a range of options across a broad landscape in terms of approach and accessibility.
How then do organizations help vulnerable patients navigate their PrEP journeys using the contraceptive roadmap as a guide?
Dr Julie Dombrowski
That's what researchers at the University of Washington were intent on demonstrating, according to Julie Dombrowski, MD, MPH, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Washington School of Medicine and deputy director of the HIV/STD Program, Public Health for the city of Seattle and King County, Washington.
"The same sorts of things that happened with oral contraceptive pills — which initially required you to see a gynecologist and get a Pap smear — over time, became much more available," said Dombrowski, co-author of a new study published online in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
"The basic idea is that PrEP is not medically complicated; it can be easily protocolized," she told Medscape Medical News.
Decentralizing HIV PrEP
In addition to her responsibilities at University of Washington-Seattle, Dombrowski provides clinical services at the Public Health Sexual Health Clinic (PHSKC) at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center — a dual-county center that provides confidential STI and HIV evaluation, screening, testing, and treatment on a walk-in basis for a sliding fee.
