HIV testing, prevention, and care through hospital dental clinics
Effectiveness of comprehensive ETE interventions in the dental setting
This project tries electronic prompts, tablet risk checks, and care navigators in hospital dental clinics to make HIV testing, PrEP access, and linkage to care easier for people from high-risk New York neighborhoods.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Columbia University Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11160788 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
From a patient's view, clinic staff will use electronic medical record alerts to remind them about HIV testing, ask patients to complete a brief tablet risk questionnaire to consider PrEP, and use engagement dashboards to connect or reconnect people to HIV care. The project starts by testing whether these tools are acceptable and workable in a few hospital dental clinics, comparing a standard dental team to a team supported by care navigators. If both approaches pass early feasibility checks, the study will run a cluster-randomized comparison across four sites to see which team model leads to better testing, prevention uptake, and care linkage. The team will also look at how different dental clinic staffing and workflows affect how well the interventions are used.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are adults who receive care at hospital-based dental clinics in New York City, especially those from neighborhoods with high HIV rates or who have HIV risk factors.
Not a fit: People who do not attend the participating hospital dental clinics or who are already stably engaged in HIV care with effective treatment may not directly benefit from the intervention.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could increase HIV testing, expand PrEP access, and improve linkage to HIV care for dental patients in high-incidence neighborhoods.
How similar studies have performed: EMR prompts, clinic-based HIV testing, and PrEP outreach have improved testing and prevention in other healthcare settings, but using a bundled IT-plus-navigator approach specifically in dental clinics is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
New York, United States
- Columbia University Health Sciences — New York, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Yin, Michael T — Columbia University Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Yin, Michael T
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.