Entry-Level Competencies Required of Primary Care Nurse Practitioners Providing HIV Specialty Care: A National Practice Validation Study

In the United States, only 30% of HIV-infected persons are diagnosed, engaged in care, provided antiretroviral therapy, and virologically suppressed. Competent HIV care providers are needed to achieve optimal clinical outcomes for all people living with HIV, but 69% of Ryan White Clinics in the United States report difficulty recruiting HIV clinicians, and one in three current HIV specialty physicians are expected to retire in the next decade. Nurse practitioners who specialize in HIV and have caseloads with large numbers of HIV-infected patients have care outcomes that are equal to or better than that provided by physicians, especially generalist non-HIV specialist physicians. We designed a national practice validation study to help prepare the next generation of primary care nurse practitioners who desire to specialize in HIV. This manuscript reports the results of the national study and identifies entry-level competencies for entry-level primary care nurse practitioners specializing in HIV.