Evidence of Success - Introduction

What are the AIDS Education and Training Centers?

The AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC) Program is the professional training arm of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency (CARE) Act, which is administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB). The AETC program is one of the largest and most comprehensive professional education program dedicated to HIV/AIDS. Its 11 regional AETCs, along with the National Minority AETC, conduct training for HIV care providers. Beyond the 11 regional AETCs, over 130 Local Performance Sites (LPSs) and four national centers serve all 50 states, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the six U.S.-affiliated Pacific jurisdictions. LPSs identify and develop targeted responses to the HIV education needs of healthcare providers in the areas they serve. Curricula and training materials are accessible on the National Resource Center's website, www.aidsetc.org, which offers a virtual library of online training resources. The National Clinicians' Consultation Center (NCCC) offers healthcare providers timely and appropriate responses to clinical questions related to the treatment of persons with HIV infection and/or possible healthcare worker exposure to HIV and other bloodborne pathogens through a 24-hour clinical consultation Warmline and PEPline. The National Evaluation Center is responsible for program evaluation activities including assessing effectiveness of the AETCs' education, training, and consultation activities.

A set of program priorities guide the professional training activities. The AETCs:

These training priorities are, in turn, intended to support the broader service delivery objectives of the Ryan White CARE Act (RWCA). In particular, training activities may contribute to achieving one or more of the following HIV/AIDS Bureau objectives:

To achieve these objectives, the AETCs provide didactic (Level 1), interactive (Level II) and clinical education (Level III) programs as well as clinical consultation (Level IV) and technical assistance (Level V). The goals of the education are to enhance knowledge, develop skills, increase confidence, improve care given to HIV-infected and at-risk patients, and modify the organizational context in which care is provided.

Based in leading academic centers across the country, the AETC network of nationally recognized HIV clinicians, researchers, and educators provides interdisciplinary education and training in a variety of formats:

	Expert clinical consultation on all aspects of managing patient care
	Intensive clinical rotations, preceptorships, and mini-residencies
	Workshops and seminars
	Hands-on supervised clinical experience
	Longitudinal training to effect systems change (capacity building)
	Technical assistance on clinical issues

From July 1, 2002 through June 30, 2003 over 37,126 training hours of education, attended by 126,456 participants, were provided by AETCs. Many of the trainees attended more than one training and it is estimated that 71,854 distinct individual participants took part in one or more AETCs training programs. Of the providers trained, 3,145 were physicians who serve rural areas, 1,417 were providers who work in hospitals that serve rural areas, and 7,307 were correctional facility employees. Clinical consultations were provided to 3,641 providers working in community-based clinics.

AETC education seeks to enhance HIV care for minorities and other underserved populations. Many trainees are themselves from minority backgrounds. African-Americans made up 22% of individual participants, Hispanics 15%, Asian-Americans 8%, Native Americans 2% and multiple racial heritage 13%. These proportions are far higher than these groups' representation in health professions in general. A large proportion (46%) of trainees reported that more than half of their patients are drawn from racial/ethnic minorities. A total of 1,598 providers who work in community-based clinics with a majority of patients drawn from racial/ethnic minorities received interactive training.

Purpose

This document is a collection of vignettes that describe the broad spectrum and the impact of education and training offered by the AETCs and supporting centers to improve the quality of care provided to patients living with HIV infection.