Utilizing emergency departments for pre‐exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)

Abstract

Funding and support: By JACEP Open policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article as per ICMJE conflict of interest guidelines (see www.icmje.org). The authors have stated that no such relationships exist.

“There hasn’t been a push to identify patients in the emergency department”—Staff perspectives on automated identification of candidates for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP): A qualitative study

“…Although the ED physicians in our study did not believe that they should prescribe PrEP, it is important that ED providers have access to local referral information. Additionally, it would be practical to continually evaluate what ongoing support is required to make sure that individuals who could most benefit from PrEP are identified within the ED and linked to the appropriate services [ 7 ].…”

“…Despite challenges associated with implementing automated identification of PrEP candidates, the ED can serve as an access point for PrEP referral and can reach underserved populations at increased risk for HIV who may not otherwise engage in outpatient care [ 7 ]. Furthermore, patients within the ED are increasingly interested in initiating PrEP [ 6 ].…”

“…The emergency department (ED) is an apt setting for leveraging the electronic medical record (EMR) system to utilize algorithms for identifying candidates for PrEP. Patients who access the ED often have co-occurring social and health risk factors for potential exposure to HIV [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Targeted screening demonstrates that many ED patients are considered at risk for HIV and prime candidates for PrEP based on their self-reported behaviors [10].…”