The National HIV Curriculum is a free, up-to-date educational resource for healthcare professionals to learn about HIV diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. This 100% federally-funded curriculum is an AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC) Program led by the University of Washington (UW) Infectious Diseases Education & Assessment (IDEA) Program. The website offers 91.5 free CME, CNE, CE and 65.5 free pharmacology CE for advanced practice nurses and features:
6 modules with 37 lessons address core competencies in HIV care
37 corresponding Question Bank topics with 395 interactive, case-based questions
Antiretroviral Medications section has prescribing info, clinical trials, and slide decks
18 clinical screening tools and calculators provide clinical decision support
Clinically relevant Mini-Lectures that supplement lesson material
5 concise HIV Symptom Evaluation Guides
Online learning group functionality to onboard and train healthcare professionals, residents, and students
Individualized and learning group progress trackers
Continuing Education (CE) Credits Available
All IDEA curricula offer free CME credits, CNE contact hours, and CE contact hours. Pharmacology CE for advanced practice nurses is often available. For those who don’t need CE, Certificates of Completions are available.
View or download National HIV Curriculum units and available CE
Funding support
All IDEA curricula are 100% funded by either the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The National HIV Curriculum is an AETC Program supported by HRSA of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $1,332,044 with 0% financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government.
History
Founded in 1946, the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine (UWSOM) is a nationally recognized leader in training physicians. In 2003, Dr. David Spach, a board certified physician and Professor of Medicine in UWSOM’s Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, led efforts to create a federally-funded, online infectious disease curricula based on adult learning theory with customized instructional design. Dr. Spach is now Editor-in-Chief for the following IDEA curricula: Hepatitis C Online (launched 2013), the National STD Curriculum (2017), the National HIV Curriculum (2017), and Hepatitis B Online (2020).
Created and managed by the IDEA Program, these websites were integrated to provide a consistent user interface and uniform design allowing learners to quickly and easily navigate and access content. Registered learners can use a single username and password across curricula.
Mission and Goals
The IDEA mission is to deliver innovative, free, online education and training to diagnose, manage, and prevent infectious diseases. The long-term goals of the IDEA curricula are to:
Improve and enhance the competency of health professionals currently providing medical care to people living with or at risk for infectious diseases;
Expand the number of health professionals interested in and capable of providing competent medical care to those individuals;
Improve the quality of medical care; and
Prevent new infections among persons at risk
Guiding Principles
IDEA content, resources, and services are free and accessible 24/7 to all healthcare professionals, healthcare settings, and organizations without regard to race/ethnicity, age, gender, socio-economic status, sexual identity, or gender identification. Content is developed using four principles. Please click on any principle to learn more.
Clinical Relevance
Content is up-to-date and based on current federal treatment guidelines
Authors, reviewers, and editors are experienced, working clinicians and/or medical school faculty Contributors
Clinical calculators and tools provide clinical decision support and are accessible from multiple devices Tools and Calculators
The Antiviral Medications section includes in-depth prescribing info, clinical studies, and slide decks
Experts discuss clinically relevant topics in concise Mini-Lectures
Each of the five HIV Symptom Evaluation Guides provide clinicians with a framework for evaluating certain common symptoms that individuals with HIV may experience
Learning is self-paced for a variety of healthcare professionals (novice to experienced)
High-quality audio/visual multimedia, graphics, and medical illustrations enhance written content
The master bibliography is searchable by topic or author
Specific references are embedded as citations within the text
Reliability
100% funded by the federal government and unbiased by commercial funding
Free AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) CME credits and free CNE contact hours, pharmacology CE for advanced practice nurses and CE contact hours from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) CE Notices
Personalized progress tracker, on-demand CE certificates, and Certificates of Completion are available 24/7
All IDEA sites adhere to University of Washington Privacy Policies and the IDEA Privacy Policy
The information and data collected from registered learners are encrypted. The websites use industry standard encrypted SSL connections (SHA-256 with RSA Encryption).
Innovation
The IDEA curricula are custom-designed to meet the unique needs of medical professionals
Dual-purpose use allows learners to alternate between “quick reference” to immediately access information (no registration or sign-in needed) and “self-study” (stop and start learning while tracking progress, CE, and Certificates of Completions)
Downloadable PDFs of lessons are available to view offline (available in quick reference)
Online learning groups provide educators and managers an efficient, scalable tool to curate content, enroll learners, and monitor performance
Integration
Learners can use a single sign-on (same name and password) for all IDEA curricula
Uniform navigation tools, CE processes, progress trackers, and the learning group tool allow for a consistent learner experience
As treatment guidelines change, resulting updates and references are implemented throughout all the curricula
Learning groups allow healthcare entities and training programs to implement a “flipped classroom” model
Modules, lessons, and Question Bank topics can be accessed through the CDC TRAIN Learning Network and all units meet the CDC Quality Training Standards.