🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient HIV course.
What HIV Is
Virus that attacks immune cells. ART suppresses it. Lifelong treatment = lifelong health.
Learn ItWhy ART Works
Suppresses virus to undetectable. U=U: undetectable = untransmittable.
Learn ItSpot the Red Flags
Severe respiratory, neurological, or febrile illness — could be opportunistic.
Learn ItAdherence Matters
Missed doses risk resistance. Long-acting injectables now an option.
Learn ItNumbers
Viral load (undetectable goal), CD4 count (≥500 ideal).
Learn ItART Daily
Same time-ish, with or without food per regimen. Don’t skip.
Live ItRoutine Labs
Viral load + CD4 every 3-6 months once stable.
Live ItCancer + STI Screening
Higher risk of certain cancers. Anal Pap, HPV vaccine, regular STI.
Live ItCV Risk
HIV plus some ART raises CV risk. Lipid/BP attention matters.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring meds list, side effects, mental health status.
Live ItYour Care Team
HIV doctor + PCP + sometimes pharmacist + social work.
Live ItAdherence Tools
Pill reminders, smartphone apps, refill auto-renewal.
Live ItInsurance, Ryan White
Coverage exists for all HIV patients regardless of insurance. ADAP.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Newly diagnosed people fear stigma and death. You're evidence neither is necessary.
Share ItFight Stigma
U=U is the message. People stop hiding when stigma drops.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Cure research, long-acting injectables, broadly neutralizing antibodies.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
HIV on ART is a chronic condition. The ladder is about staying on meds and catching opportunistic infections.
Handle at home
- Taking ART daily
- Undetectable viral load
- Following lab and clinic schedule
Log it. Adherence is everything.
Call the office / message the portal
- Missed doses
- Side effects you’re tolerating
- Running low on meds
- New medication from another doctor (interaction risk)
Same day. ART interactions are common.
Urgent / Acute care
- Persistent fever
- New oral thrush or skin lesion
- Persistent diarrhea
- Significant weight loss
- Mood changes
Urgent care or HIV clinic. Some opportunistic infections need workup.
ER NOW / call 911
- Severe respiratory symptoms (could be PCP pneumonia)
- Severe neurological symptoms (could be CNS infection)
- High fever with rigors
- Confusion
- Severe headache with neck stiffness
Call 911. Tell them you have HIV.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Fatigue and night sweats for 10 days, a 6 most days, started after I missed 3 days of my ART because I was traveling, eating helps a little, and I’ve had a low-grade fever.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for HIV:
- “What’s my viral load and CD4 trend — am I where we want to be?”
- “Is my current ART regimen still optimal — or are simpler / newer options available (long-acting injectables)?”
- “What screening am I due for — cancers, STIs, cardiovascular risk, kidney, bone?”
- “PrEP for partners or harm-reduction discussions — what’s our plan?”
- “Vaccines: which am I due for — hep B, HPV, pneumococcal, COVID, mpox?”