Doctors, Nurses Receive Free HIV/AIDS Training

First nurses, and now physicians, are learning the latest on HIV/AIDS through a free training program offered by the Harris County Hospital District’s Thomas Street Clinic and the Texas/Oklahoma AIDS Education and Training Center.

For the past seven years, the federally funded program has trained more than 400 nurses on the latest treatment and diagnostic developments on HIV/AIDS. The program was recently expanded at Thomas Street to include physician training.

Several training sessions are offered annually. Staff can accommodate a class of up to 20 nurses and up to four physicians at each session.

One local doctor is scheduled to go through the first physician-training program this month and organizers hope others will follow suit in the months to come. Nurse and physician preceptors, experts in their fields, offer participants a blend of educational lectures and clinical shadowing.

Chris Lahart, medical director at Thomas Street, said the program gives medical professionals a well-rounded knowledge base that can benefit their practice.

"For physicians who don’t specialize in HIV/AIDS, this training will prove an invaluable part of the care they offer patients," he said.

Thomas Street Clinic is the hospital district’s free-standing facility offering specialty outpatient HIV/AIDS care. Physicians from Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas Medial School at Houston, supervise the facility. Last year, the clinic recorded 15,651 patient visits, a slight increase from the previous year.

Mary Caprio, professional project coordinator, said the program’s goal is to ensure that health professionals recognize early signs of HIV/AIDS in patients, as well as provide basic care for this very specialized patient population.

"We want to introduce nurses and physicians to the complexities of HIV/AIDS," she said. "Many don’t know how to identify symptoms in medical or surgical patients who are at risk for HIV/AIDS and are unsure of how to manage those already infected."

For more information or to reserve a spot at the next available session, call Jeff Benavides at (713)873-4026 or e-mail jeffrey_benavides@hchd.tmc.edu.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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