Development of HIV/AIDS Service System by Multidisciplinary Team and HIV Peer Group in Khunhan Hospital, Si Sa Ket Province

Abstract

AIDS is a chronic communicable disease which is a public health problem that needs a long term for treatment, standard guideline and holistic care. The objectives of this study were to develop a new service system in order to improve the level of HIV/AIDS care to be in line with the national standard (the HIVQUAL-T standard) and to increase patients’ satisfaction on the services. It began with the development of a model based on the initial phase of situation analysis, observations and recommendations from 30 stakeholders including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, medical technologist, and representatives of people living with HIV who had experiences of antiretroviral treatement for over one year period. As a result, the one-stop HIV/AIDS service model was developed; and implementation of the model was conducted by a multidisciplinary team and an HIV peer group during the second phase of the study. Such model provided a holistic care system which included physical, psychological, socioeconomic and spiritual care services to the patients. Assessment revealed that there was significant improvement in many essential indicators including the patient monitoring process through CD4 and viral load tests. Patient satisfaction rate was improved, from 70.0% in 2008 to 85.0% in 2012. Therefore, the one stop comprehensive model through multidisciplinary teams should be considered as an effective program to improve HIV/AIDS care as well as the satisfaction of HIV/AIDS patients.