St. Vincent develops the first-ever HIV educational widget

Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers and the New York State Department of Health (DOH) today unveiled a novel Web-based technology to rapidly instruct health care providers throughout New York State about HIV diagnosis and prevention.

Developed by a team from St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan and Streamedtech with a grant from the DOH’s AIDS Institute, the HIV/AIDS widget will be downloaded to computers in Health Care facilities across the state. This easy desktop computer program will allow healthcare providers to download the widget to conveniently access medical information for treating patients who have been exposed to HIV.

A widget, short for a “window gadget,” is a graphic program that interacts with computer-stored information. One important feature of widget technology is that the desktop program is able to be updated every time a user accesses the Internet. Changes made to the program on the DOH server can then be pushed out to all users to ensure the widget provides the most up-to-date information.

“As the first-ever HIV educational widget designed for healthcare providers, the widget’s simplicity and power gives the DOH the ability to rapidly reach thousands of medical providers throughout New York State and teach them to diagnose and prevent HIV infection,” said Dr. Antonio Urbina, medical director of St. Vincent’s HIV/AIDS training and education. “With the same technology and different information, the widget can also be used to teach about infectious diseases or a broad variety of other health concerns.”

The HIV/AIDS widget instructs healthcare providers on when to test for the virus and how to administer a highly effective 28-day course of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent HIV infection from taking hold in the patient who has recently experienced a high risk exposure to HIV.

“I congratulate St. Vincent’s on creating this educational tool to provide state-of-the-art communication to educate the medical community about HIV/AIDS post-exposure prevention and treatment,” said New York State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D. “This Web-based computer program will provide invaluable support and instruction to health care providers to ensure that patients receive the most up-to-date care.”

The widget was created by Drs. Urbina and Paul Galatowitsch, of the HIV/AIDS education and training program at St. Vincent’s Comprehensive HIV Center in Manhattan.

For more than 20 years, “St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan has been at the forefront of treating HIV and AIDS for more than 20 years, and the development and launch of the HIV/AIDS widget is a continuation of that expertise and leadership in the fight against this disease,” said Henry J. Amoroso, president and CEO of Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers. “We are extremely proud of the accomplishments of our staff.”

New York State has the highest prevalence and incidence of HIV/AIDS in the United States. NYS has reported 230,661 cases of HIV/ADIS since the beginning of the HIV epidemic. Today, 121,237 New York State residents are living with HIV.

“The launch of the HIV/AIDS widget is a win-win for both medical providers and New York families,” said Humberto Cruz, DOH’s director of the AIDS Institute. “In one streamlined, user-friendly computer application, this instructional tool presents a unique opportunity for health care professionals to learn the most up-to-date information about HIV/AIDS and to use that information to provide the best care and treatment possible.”

The HIV/AIDS widget features:

• A New York State AIDS clock on the opening screen that ticks forward one new case every hour and 50 minutes; this is the number of people the New York State Department of Health estimates are infected each day in New York.
• A series of brief streaming videos by experts will instruct healthcare providers to implement and monitor PEP and to diagnose and manage acute HIV infection.
• Providers can also download consent forms for HIV testing (New York State requires separate consent procedures for HIV screening) and quick reference guides for PEP, acute HIV infection, and hepatitis B and C

The New York State DOH staff will regularly update all materials on the HIV/AIDS widget. Therefore, healthcare providers can be assured that the information they see reflects the latest NYS AIDS Institute guidelines.