If you live in a big city, your doctor may refer you to a clinic or centre at a nearby hospital with a special focus on HIV/AIDS. These clinics primarily provide medical care during the day to people living at home (”outpatients”).
HIV clinics don’t take the place of your own doctor, who should keep looking after you and help coordinate your contacts with the rest of the medical system. HIV clinics are often attached to “teaching” hospitals. These hospitals train medical students (interns) and resident doctors who may be involved in your care, so you may not be seeing the same doctor all the time.
HIV clinics can give information and follow-up care to people who have HIV. Their services may include counselling and support as well as keeping track of your health. Often they have people who specialize in medicine, psychology, social work, psychiatry, nutrition, or nursing. You may not need all of these services, but you can ask for a referral when you do need one of them.
HIV clinics are usually run by a specialist in infectious diseases or immunology (the study of the immune system). Because they are connected to hospitals, HIV clinics can help you get other hospital services. For example, if you need a blood transfusion or IV medication (IV means intravenous, or injected directly into a vein), this can often be done at the clinic or elsewhere in the hospital. You don’t have to stay overnight in the hospital to get most kinds of medical care.
Doctors who work in HIV clinics are often involved in studies of new drugs to treat HIV or the infections that people living with HIV can get. Chapter 9 talks about how clinical trials (drug studies) are done. If you want to join one of these studies, you may be able to sign up through an HIV clinic. Some primary care physicians are also involved in clinical trials.