GPs could take greater role in care of children with HIV

In principle, general practitioners have a potentially important role in the care of people with HIV infection. Although children constitute an important group of patients in general practice, issues in the provision of care to children with HIV infection have remained largely unexplored. Boulton et al (p 232) conducted a 6 month prospective study of 24 children with HIV infection to establish their use of primary care services and the attitudes and concerns of parents which shaped this use. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. They found that parents remained oriented towards the specialist paediatric HIV team as the main source of medical care and looked to general practitioners largely for routine prescriptions. Parents pointed to three factors as limiting their use of general practice: their own anxieties about distinguishing "normal" symptoms from those related to HIV; their observation that their general practitioner did not feel competent to treat HIV infected children; and their concerns about confidentiality in the surgery.

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Relevant Article

General practice and the care of children with HIV infection: 6 month prospective interview study

Mary Boulton, Eddy Beck, Sam Walters, and David Miller
BMJ 1999 319: 232-235. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]