[Role of pharmacists in medical team on HIV infection]

Medical staff, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, laboratory medical technologists, social workers, and case managers, should act as a team to support patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The therapeutic purpose of a potent cocktail of anti-HIV drugs is to maintain undetectable plasma levels of HIV over the long term. To achieve this, it is necessary to maintain treatment compliance. However, noncompliance frequently occurs because of a poor understanding of HIV therapy or difficulty in taking anti-HIV drugs. Thus pharmacists should contribute as HIV medical team members by providing medication counseling to ensure treatment compliance or delivering drug information to achieve successful HIV therapy. We describe the roles of pharmacists on HIV medical teams at Ehime University Hospital in examples of nutritional disorder or pregnant women with HIV.