title: HIV/AIDS practice patterns, knowledge, and educational needs among Hispanic clinicians in Texas, USA, and Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
abstract: Hispanic clinicians in Texas, United States of America, and in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, were surveyed to determine their educational needs in the area of HIV/AIDS. Two-thirds of the 74 Texan and 22% of the 104 Mexican physicians queried had seen at least one HIV/AIDS patient in the previous year. The majority of the respondents were primary care physicians who: 1) were in private practice; 2) saw more than 1,000 patients per year; 3) had been out of training for more than 10 years; 4) provided some HIV prevention education to patients based on their perceived risk of infection; 5) rated their own knowledge of HIV/AIDS as average but rated their knowledge of treatments for the disease below average; 6) received most of their information about HIV/AIDS from journals rather than formal continuing education programs; 7) thought Hispanic patients had special needs with regard to HIV/AIDS care; and 8) were willing to attend education programs to improve their HIV/AIDS management skills. The greatest barriers to caring for HIV patients were lack of clinical knowledge and fear of infection. These results point to a need for a large-scale training program to improve the HIV/AIDS management skills of Hispanic clinicians in Texas and Nuevo Leon.
authors.affiliation: AIDS Education and Training Centers, School of Public Health, University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center 77225-0186, USA.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.forename: J de D
authors.initials: Jde D
authors.lastname: Licea Serrato
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jimenez
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Grimes
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D000328:Adult; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D017058:Mexican Americans; D008800:Mexico; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013781:Texas