HIV care: continuing medical education and consultation needs of nurses, physicians, and pharmacists.

This article explores the impact of provider characteristics on their HIV-related continuing medical education (CE) attendance, consultation needs, satisfaction with skills, and willingness to provide care. A total of 731 users (52% physicians, 26% nurses, 11% pharmacists, and 10% nurse practitioners and physician assistants) of an HIV consultation were surveyed by mail (76% response). Significant differences in provider variables were found to be related to HIV experience and profession. Experienced providers reported more CE, more satisfaction with skills, lower consultation needs, more consultations sought, and more willingness to take new patients than other providers. "Unwillingness" was commonly explained by concerns over quality of care or staying up-to-date. Relative to physicians, nurses had more CE hours, were more dissatisfied with their skills, and had greater consultation needs. Although all providers had high consultation or CE needs in some areas, accessibility to such programs is particularly important for low-volume providers.