Katz D, Gerber R, Williams K, Dutcher G; International Conference on AIDS.

Int Conf AIDS. 1996 Jul 7-12; 11: 242 (abstract no. Tu.C.212).

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Issue: When important treatment information needs to be widely disseminated by the various components of the U.S. Federal government, such as the trial results from ACTG 076 (the trial which confirmed that the use of AZT during pregnancy reduces perinatal HIV transmission), a centralized reference service enables this information to be quickly and casily available to health care providers and persons with HIV infection. Project: The HIV/AIDS Treatment Information Service (ATIS), a free telephone reference service, was developed through a coordinated U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) effort. ATIS provides a central resource that health care providers and people living with HIV infection can use to find out about treatment options approved by the U.S. Federal government. The USPHS agencies sponsoring ATIS include: the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration, Indian Health Service, National Institutes of Health, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. ATIS works closely with other Federal HIV information services and AIDS service organizations to make appropriate referrals to callers for information requests outside of ATIS' scope, e.g., HIV prevention information. Information from ATIS is also available to the international community through electronic mail and through its own home page on a World Wide Web site. Results: The service opened on October 31, 1994 and over 12,000 calls have been received. 30.5% of callers using the service identify themselves as HIV-infected persons; 26.3% are "general public" (defined as callers whose HIV status is unknown, HIV-seronegative individuals, and callers with a general interest in treatment information). Physicians and other health care providers comprise 11.9% of calls to the service. During its first year of operation, ATIS further demonstrated its value in allowing its sponsoring agencies to coordinate release of information on ACTG 076 and provided the public with the ability to link with providers if they had questions or concerns about the information for HIV-infected pregnant women. Lessons Learned: A coordinated HIV treatment information service benefits the sponsoring agencies and the users of the service. Resources can be shared, duplicative efforts reduced, and there is less confusion for individuals about where to call for information.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• AIDS Vaccines
• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)
• Clinical Trials as Topic
• Female
• HIV Infections
• HIV Seropositivity
• Health Personnel
• Health Services
• Humans
• Information Services
• Internet
• National Institutes of Health (U.S.)
• Pregnancy
• United States
• United States Health Resources and Services Administration
• Zidovudine
• therapy

Other ID:

• 96922104

UI: 102218003

From Meeting Abstracts