Individualized patient care and clinical outcomes in HIV/AIDS management

Objectives: Individualized care has the potential to significantly improve health outcomes in patients with chronic conditions. This study was aimed at evaluating the quality of individualized care and its impact on clinical outcomes in patients with the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) receiving treatment in a resource-limited setting. Materials and Methods: The study was a cross-sectional prospective study carried out in the HIV/AIDS clinic of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. Data on the demographic and clinical details of the patients were obtained from patient’s case notes using a suitably designed, pre-piloted data collection instrument. Data on patients’ assessment of the quality of individualized care were obtained using a “Patient Assessment of Quality of Individualized Care for Chronic Illness Scale.” Quantitative data were analyzed using the IBM Statistical Product and Service Solutions version 25.0 computer package. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize data, whereas inferential statistics was used where applicable with statistical significance set at P < 0.05. Results: The overall mean patients’ satisfaction with individualized care score was 3.54 (standard deviation = ±0.86; max. = 5). The majority of the patients (271) had a documented viral load of <50 copies/mL, whereas 27% (109) of the patients had a recently documented CD4 count that was >500 cells/mm3. Bivariate analysis showed that the quality of individualized care was positively correlated with the patients’ CD4 count (r = 0.036; P = 0.657). A negative correlation between the quality of individualized care and the patients’ viral load (r = −0.103; P = 0.177) was also found. Conclusion: Provision of individualized care to patients with HIV/AIDS may improve clinical outcomes. In making therapeutic decisions, clinicians should take into cognizance individual patients’ preferences and needs.