About the National HIV Curriculum
About the National HIV Curriculum
The National HIV Curriculum (NHC) is a no-cost, up-to-date educational resource for health care professionals and trainees to learn about HIV diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. This 100% federally-funded curriculum is a Ryan White HIV/AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC) Program led by the University of Washington (UW) Infectious Diseases Education & Assessment (IDEA) Program. The curriculum offers 77.50 free CME, CNE, CE, 57.50 CPE and pharmacotherapeutic/pharmacology CE, and 47.50 IPCE. The site includes:
- 6 modules with 35 Self Study or Quick Reference lessons addressing core competencies in HIV care
- 35 corresponding Question Bank topics featuring 290 interactive board-review questions
- An Antiretroviral Medications section providing prescribing info, clinical trials, and slide decks
- The NHC Podcast exploring practice-changing issues and updates on diagnosis, management, and prevention
- Mini-Lectures featuring experts discussing clinically relevant topics
- 17 clinical screening tools and calculators providing clinical decision support
- 5 concise HIV Symptom Evaluation Guides highlighting practical approaches to the initial evaluation and diagnosis of common symptoms
- A learning group tool enabling owners to invite members, assign content, and track progress
- Individualized and learning group progress trackers
Continuing Education (CE) Credits Available
All IDEA curricula offer no-cost CME credits, CNE contact hours, and CE contact hours. Pharmacotherapeutic/pharmacology CE contact hours are often available. The NHC 4th Edition offers no-cost continuing pharmacy education (CPE) contact hours and interprofessional continuing education (IPCE) credit. Certificates of Completions are available to document work.
View or download a list of National HIV Curriculum activities and available CE.
Funding support
The National HIV Curriculum is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $1,172,990 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), Hepatitis B Online (2020), and the National HIV PrEP Curriculum (2024).
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, no-cost, online education and training to diagnose, treat, 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;
- Improve the quality of medical care; and
- Prevent new infections among persons at risk
Guiding Principles
IDEA content, resources, and services are no-cost and accessible 24/7 to healthcare professionals, healthcare settings, and organizations. 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
- Editors and contributors are experienced, working clinicians and/or medical school faculty
- The Antiretroviral Medications section includes in-depth prescribing information, clinical studies, and slide decks
- The NHC Podcast covers HIV diagnosis, management, and prevention through case discussions, conference summaries, expert interviews, and literature reviews
- Experts discuss clinically relevant topics in concise Mini-Lectures
- Clinical calculators and tools provide clinical decision support and are accessible from multiple devices
- 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 Bibliography is searchable by topic or author
- Specific references are embedded as citations throughout the site
Reliability
- 100% funded by the federal government and unbiased by commercial funding
- The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) to provide CME, CNE, CPE, and IPCE to the health care team. CE Notices
- Personalized progress tracker, on-demand CE transcripts, 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 invite members, assign content, and track progress
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
- Lessons and Question Bank topics can be accessed through the CDC TRAIN Learning Network and all units meet the CDC Quality Training Standards.