February 5, 2009

Shortage in HIV Providers Could Be Looming

Nearly one third of practicing HIV health care providers, including physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, plan to stop practicing over the next 10 years, according to the results of a new survey by the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM) to be published in the inaugural issue of a new magazine called HIV Specialist.

While these findings suggest that a shortage of HIV care providers may be on the horizon, the survey also revealed that 90 percent of current providers are satisfied with their career choice in HIV health care—a finding that will hopefully spark the interest of current and future medical students deciding on a specialty.

The survey revealed that most providers got into HIV medicine because of the intellectual challenge of the specialty, the rapid translation of scientific discoveries into clinical practice, the opportunity to provide direct patient care and the ability to influence outcomes for patients with life-threatening illnesses. A parallel survey among students of HIV medicine indicates that they hope to get job satisfaction from helping others and from the intellectual challenge of treating HIV.

Donna Sweet, MD, AAHIVM’s board chair, said, “We can affirm for those students that if those are the key factors in their medical career pursuits, then that’s what they’ll get if they choose HIV medicine.”

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