A huge congratulations to Nikki Regan, APRN (pictured left) at the Specialty Care Center, who recently presented a session at the National Ryan White Conference in Washington D.C. this past August entitled, “The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Best Practices Compilation: Co-Creation of an Ambassador Toolkit”, along with co-presenters Julie Hook (JSI Research), Devon Brown (JSI Research), and Jill York, DDS (Assistant Dean at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine).
At the Virtual National Ryan White Conference in 2022, Regan shared a poster abstract detailing the quick process mapping that occurred in the early days of COVID-19 to offer telehealth to patients with HIV at the SCC. Following that abstract, Regan was approached by the Target HIV Best Practices team to submit the story and protocols to the Best Practices Compilation, which is a collection of interventions and programs that have demonstrated effectiveness and may be replicable for other Ryan White programs.
She commented, “The compilation is really the epitome of ‘no need to reinvent the wheel’ in the world of Ryan White care. Anyone can access the page. If you are looking for ideas on how to incorporate a new practice, like telehealth for example, you can search and see what other teams have already had success with.”
In 2023, Regan was approached by JSI Research to help develop a toolkit for Ryan White programs to more efficiently SEARCH, SHARE, and NOMINATE programs and teams with best practices in the care of people with HIV, which resulted in a presentation at the National Ryan White Conference in Washington D.C. this Summer.
Through this, Jill, Nikki, and several other representatives demonstrated to the audience how they worked through three stages of project development- Inspiration, Ideation, and Implementation- to create what is now known as the Ambassador Toolkit.
When asked for further comment, Nikki shared, “Prior to being approached in 2022, I was not aware the Best Practices Compilation even existed! Now that our intervention is included, I wanted to do my part to advocate for the compilation and help other teams access and utilize it. This process allowed me to give feedback on my own experience using the compilation, and make it a more dynamic and intuitive tool for myself, our SCC team, and other HIV care teams.”
Congrats, Nikki and the SCC team! This is a huge accomplishment that will go a long way toward helping accelerate the care of patients with HIV around the world.