Dr. Blackwell’s original article, “Preventing HIV Through Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis: An Evaluation of Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Programs in the United States,” has been accepted for publication in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. The article is based on a nationwide study examining the pedagogical variation and amount of educational content dedicated to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in primary care nurse practitioner programs. The study was funded by the Fellows of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP). Two collaborators, Dr. Humberto López Castillo (from UCF’s Colleges of Medicine and Health Professions and Sciences) and UCF AGACNP doctoral candidate Abigail Lora, also co-authored the article. The abstract appears below:
Pre‑exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a highly effective strategy for preventing HIV transmission, is a central component of national HIV prevention efforts. Because nurse practitioners (NPs) deliver a substantial proportion of primary care in the United States (US), graduate NP education plays a critical role in preparing the workforce to implement PrEP. However, there is limited national evidence describing how PrEP education is integrated within family nurse practitioner (FNP) and adult‑gerontology primary care nurse practitioner (AGPCNP) programs. This descriptive, cross‑sectional study examined PrEP‑related educational practices in US FNP and AGPCNP programs through a national Web‑based survey of program directors (N = 36). Survey domains included curricular inclusion and instructional time devoted to PrEP, instructional modalities and course placement, methods used to assess learner competency, program directors’ confidence in graduate preparedness, timelines for PrEP curriculum integration, and associations with program and faculty characteristics. Most programs reported including PrEP‑related content; however, instruction was typically limited in duration and relied primarily on didactic approaches. Experiential learning opportunities, such as simulation or case‑based activities, were infrequently used, and formal assessment of PrEP‑specific competency was inconsistent across programs. Program directors expressed moderate confidence in graduates’ preparedness to manage HIV prevention. Program type was not associated with confidence in PrEP preparedness. These findings suggest that while PrEP is broadly represented in primary care NP curricula, greater emphasis on competency‑based instruction, experiential learning, and systematic assessment is needed to ensure graduate readiness to deliver HIV prevention in primary care settings.
