A recent survey of clinicians in Western New York who have prescribed Truvada (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) found they were divided over which type of provider should provide the HIV prevention pill.

Publishing their findings in the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, the investigators surveyed 28 clinicians in Erie and Niagara counties in Western New York. All had prescribed PrEP for at least three months.

“Understanding barriers and facilitators to PrEP adoption and implementation from both current and future health care providers is key to accelerate rollout of this preventive medication to target populations who meet clinical eligibility criteria,”

Sarahmona Przybyla, PhD, MPH, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of community health and health behavior at the State University of New York at Buffalo’s School of Public Health and Health Professions, said in a press release.

Asked who was the ideal health care provider to prescribe PrEP, 15 of the survey respondents chose primary care physicians while 13 chose any health care provider. None of them selected infectious disease or HIV specialists as the ideal prescriber.

“This research provides support for a growing foundation of research that warrants continued efforts to incorporate PrEP into a comprehensive HIV prevention plan at local, state and national levels,” Przybyla said.

To read a press release about the study, click here.

To read the study abstract, click here.