While nurses in high-income countries benefit from many additional resources compared with their colleagues working in resource-poor settings, both groups confront challenges in promoting adherence to HIV treatment, particularly among patients with numerous complex needs. Through a virtual discussion this week on GHDonline.org, nurses working globally are exchanging tools and strategies to promote patient adherence.

Christopher Shaw, a nurse working at Massachusetts General Hospital’s infectious disease clinic, is leading the discussion in GHDonline’s nursing community, one of nine public virtual professional communities developed by a team at Harvard University and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Through the GHDonline community, Shaw is connecting with hundreds of health care implementers worldwide to share proven practices and resources to improve patient care quality. Shaw has posted two short case descriptions of immigrant patients struggling to adhere to their HIV treatment.

In response, expert panelist and veteran nurse Pat Daoust wrote, “One of the advantages I had while working in other countries was learning first-hand from my in- country nursing colleagues just what many of the cultural, religious and lifestyle challenges existed for our patients which would impact their ability to successfully or unsuccessfully adhere to ARVs. As we work more and more with the immigrant population here in the U.S. I think it really becomes our responsibility to investigate and learn from our patients about those barriers.”

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