ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The federally funded National HIV/AIDS Clinicians' Consultation Center (NCCC) offers US health care providers expert telephone consultations for managing HIV/AIDS and occupational exposures to blood-borne pathogens through 3 telephone services: the National Clinicians' Post-Exposure Prophylaxis Hotline (PEPline), the National HIV Telephone Consultation Service (Warmline), and the Perinatal HIV Hotline. Callers to the NCCC receive consultation from either a clinical pharmacist (PharmD) or a physician (MD) with HIV expertise. OBJECTIVE: To compare the satisfaction of NCCC callers who received clinical consultations from clinical pharmacists and physicians with HIV expertise. METHODS: We prospectively mailed 1256 satisfaction surveys to NCCC health care provider callers during a 7-month period. Survey recipients were not aware that satisfaction surveys compared PharmD and MD consultation services. Respondents rated their level of agreement with 8 statements about the quality of consultation, the quality of clinical information given, and future calls to the NCCC. RESULTS: Survey return rates were 43% for PEPline and 40% for Warmline and Perinatal HIV Hotline combined. Overall, caller satisfaction with the telephone consultation service was extremely high (>4 in all categories on a 1-5 Likert scale). There was no significant difference in PEPline caller satisfaction ratings between PharmD and MD consultations. Callers to the Warmline and Perinatal HIV Hotline agreed with all 8 satisfaction statements. For the following 3 statements, however, satisfaction was higher when Warmline and Perinatal HIV Hotline consultation was provided by an MD: "Overall, I was pleased with the quality of my consultation" (p = 0.04); "I would use this service again" (p < 0.02); and "I am likely to recommend this service to my colleagues" (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Health care provider callers to the NCCC were highly satisfied with the information obtained from this HIV/AIDS telephone consultation service. By measuring callers' survey response to PharmD and MD consultations, the importance of the clinicians' contributions to this advanced HIV/AIDS consultation service is documented.