About the National HIV PrEP Curriculum

Website Overview
CE Credits Available
Funding Support
History
IDEA Program Mission and Goals
Four Guiding Principles

Website Overview

The National HIV PrEP Curriculum is a free, up-to-date educational resource for health care professionals to learn how to initiate and manage HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP). This curriculum is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and led by the University of Washington Infectious Diseases Education & Assessment (IDEA) Program. The website offers 14 free CME, CNE, CE and 10 free pharmacology CE for advanced practice nurses and features:  

• 2 modules with 11 lessons that address core competencies in HIV PrEP initiation and management
• HIV PrEP Training Certificate (optional) for learners who successfully complete the HIV PrEP Fundamentals module and pass the 20-question multiple-choice knowledge assessment test
• HIV PrEP Tools for Clinicians app guides interaction with patient from initial assessment to medication selection to what labs to order
• Clinically relevant Mini-Lectures, Panel Discussions, and Interviews that supplement lesson material
• Clinical guides on HIV PrEP studies, two medication options, and lab tests for monitoring
• Online learning groups to 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 PrEP Curriculum units and available CE 
CE Notices Page

Funding support

The National HIV PrEP Curriculum is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a part of a financial assistance award totaling $625,000 from CDC and $300,005 from HRSA with 0% financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by CDC, HRSA, or HHS, or the U.S. Government. This project is led by the University of Washington Infectious Diseases Education & Assessment (IDEA) Program.

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 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 
Reliability
Innovation
Integration

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
• HIV PrEP Tools for Clinicians website app guides interaction with patient from initial assessment to medication selection to what labs to order
• Experts discuss clinically relevant topics in concise Mini-Lectures and Panels
• HIV PrEP Clinical Guides review HIV PrEP studies, injectable cabotegravir, on-demand dosing, and recommended lab tests for monitoring
• 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.