PrEP Initiation in Baltimore — Matt Coles Designs

PrEP Initiation

How Might We Support Patients and Providers with PrEP Initiation?

Guiding Questions

What information about PrEP are patients sharing with peers?
What information is most important to the community?
What secondary information is available for patients in clinics?
What is the current narrative being received about PrEP in Baltimore?
What are the current best practices?
What is BCHD doing well with PrEP?
How does PrEP initiation currently work?
How do providers currently initiate PrEP with their patients?
What are the feelings and experiences?
What are the barriers?
What has been patients and providers experience with PrEP initiation?
What are the barriers to PrEP initiation for both providers & patients?

The Baltimore City Health Department (BCHD) partnered with our team at the Center for Social Design to help increase PrEP initiation for patients and medical providers at their two sexual health clinics. Disease stigma has long plagued HIV & AIDS.

It has had a profound impact, often negatively on people living with or at risk of HIV. The team took great care and empathy throughout the design process when engaging with providers, patients, care givers, social workers and BCHD civil servants.

2021 marked the 40th Anniversary of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) when it first appeared in New York City and San Francisco.

In the four decades that public health practitioners have been fighting the disease and stigma, 2019 brought a huge triumph to medicine. That triumph comes in the form of Pre-exposure Prophylaxis or PrEP. This medication is highly effective for reducing the risk of getting HIV from sex or injection drug use according to the CDC.

Mapping the journeys of the PrEP Protocol and process were essential in identifying bright spots and opportunities for intervention. The tensions and bright spots looked at patients interactions before the visit, arrival, during the visit, initiation and follow-up along the PrEP journey.

Themes & Insights

The themes and insights that emerged centered on PrEP communication, eligibility, initiation processes, staff roles, insurance process and the physical environment. Our design team facilitated ideation sessions with providers and patients.

Protoypes & Implementation

Prototype concepts had to be narrowed to print media for BCHD, due to their restricted budgets on design interventions for the sexual health clinics. From our brainstorming session, our team used the insights and opportunities to create consistent communication materials for providers and patients. A color coding system was designed to assist patients as they navigate the process in the clinics. The color system was also key for health care providers and clinicians to distinguish who the patient was interacting with along the PrEP Initiation Journey.