Did AIDS patient can share same room with other patient?

Nurses General Nursing

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In my long term care facility, have one AIDS patient who share same room with other old man. I just want to know is that OK?:igtsyt::stdnrsrck:

Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.
And let me just add that "they" knew about it 10 years or so before you saw the announcement. :down: Its my opinion, and I'm not big on conspiracy theories, that there was so little interest in this nasty disease because of the populations it originally seemed to affect. It makes me ashamed to be a human being when I think of this and can only pray that the OP is in the minority when it comes to a lack of accurate information regarding transmission...especially among health care workers. :(

A hospital in Manchester England had a tissue sample that was obtained from a patient back in the 1950's. It was not positively identified as belonging to a patient with AIDS until they were able to test for the virus in the 1980's..a researcher remembered a patient that had died of a mysterious illness that had, what we all know now as AIDS...he went back and got the tissue and blood samples and re-examined them...so it's been around much longer than anyone has known about.

AIDS was not positively discovered as a separate condition until the 1980's..1981, specifically.....that part of my post was correct (I was in high school)...it was not isolated and identified until 1983...it was on that discovery that they realized for the first time that the group of symptoms were not magically appearing in these patients together...they were part of the same disorder. Testing became widely available around 1985.

Many of the statistics of earlier infections that you read about were confirmed in the 1980's..NOT in the 1960's and 1970's...from tissue and blood samples that were preserved.

You are correct that they were slow about checking the blood supply..that didn't happen until 1985 (before that, they were using Hep C tests until an AIDS test could be developed)...no question on that...that is what made Ryan White's case so important...b/c you now had an infected child that was not gay, was not a drug user, and obviously, had never had sex. It's when the innocent were being targeted that members of the public became outraged and started mass education on HIV/AIDS and it's transmission.

The first identified death in the USA didn't even happen until 1980...they couldn't identify the virus or even as AIDS as a separate disorder at the time...so there was no way that they could protect the blood supply b/c they had no idea of how it was spread. It wasn't until the late 1990's and the early 2000's, that they know, positively, 100%, again, by looking at old tissue and blood samples, just how long HIV had been in the USA.

The gay population also got on the bandwagon of spreading the true message of how HIV is spread...they figured out very quickly that there was strength in numbers. They were very instrumental in forcing the CDC to educate the public on what is clearly not, a gay issue only.

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I would be surprised if a patient with full blown AIDS was sharing a room. That could be very dangerous to their already comprised state. They should be in a private room and money really shouldn't be the issue here although I wouldn't be shocked if it was. Shame on them. They know better.

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Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.
I would be surprised if a patient with full blown AIDS was sharing a room. That could be very dangerous to their already comprised state. They should be in a private room and money really shouldn't be the issue here although I wouldn't be shocked if it was. Shame on them. They know better.

I'm sitting here wondering if you had a patient that was undergoing chemotherapy, that was also, immunocompromised, if you would put them in a room with anyone at all. Probably not.

Would you treat a patient with full blown AIDS, any differently?

Yeah..I know the cancer patient would be on a cancer ward...this is a hypothetical.

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I'm sitting here wondering if you had a patient that was undergoing chemotherapy, that was also, immunocompromised, if you would put them in a room with anyone at all. Probably not.

Would you treat a patient with full blown AIDS, any differently?

unfortunately, yes...AIDS pts ARE treated VERY differently.

while cancer pts are treated w/sympathy, vigilance and lots of tlc, AIDS pts are often treated with contempt, disdain, judgment and fear.

yep.

BIG difference.

leslie

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

Like illnesses with like illnesses, except in the case of AIDs. They could have different infections, one could have Cytomegalovirus and the other PCP pneumonia. It is the patient with the compromised immune system that you have to be concerned with...an AIDs patient should always have their own room. And if the patient is sick, then you need to use reverse isolation.

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I disagree - in another post, Ilovelemontea says:

Which would lead me to think that she is an RN in another country. I fail to see how someone can graduate a nursing program or attempt NCLEX without at least a basic understanding of HIV transmission. Especially when she said her NCLEX results stated that she was:

Yes, i'm a new graduate RN from China, i took the NCLEX exam and passed it. I know how HIV is transmitted and precautions we should use. But i still concerned about that situation.

:typing

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Like illnesses with like illnesses, except in the case of AIDs. They could have different infections, one could have Cytomegalovirus and the other PCP pneumonia. It is the patient with the compromised immune system that you have to be concerned with...an AIDs patient should always have their own room. And if the patient is sick, then you need to use reverse isolation.

I agree!!

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I know how HIV is transmitted...no one ever said it had to be dried blood either as no one posted that. I don't need to consult with the CDC website "for more information" when I have been reading/studying it as a hobby for many a year.

We were just tossing around "what if's" and that is what educated people are supposed to do...think about other options. No one is stating that the patient with dementia was at high risk...keyword: dementia...that means you have NO IDEA of what the patient will do with someone in close proximity as the patient that has AIDS has to be asleep sometime.

Thank you so much BabyLady, you understand exactly what i concern about!!!:wink2:

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Specializes in Acute Care.

Sometimes threads like me make me wonder if its a troll.

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Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.
unfortunately, yes...AIDS pts ARE treated VERY differently.

while cancer pts are treated w/sympathy, vigilance and lots of tlc, AIDS pts are often treated with contempt, disdain, judgment and fear.

yep.

BIG difference.

leslie

I couldn't agree with you more!!!!!!!

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Specializes in geriatrics,med/surg,vents.

this is the stigma that makes me crazy,no you will not get HIV/AIDS from sleeping in the bed next to me,you will not get it from sleeping next to me in the bed,you will not get it from sharing a plate,sandwich or glass with me,you will not get it from my toilet,tub,sink,You can get it if you share needles with me,have unprotected sex with me and note I said CAN not WILL.

HIV is spread through four body fluids:blood,semen,lady partsl fluid and breast milk.

And when I was in the hospital with AIDS (CD4 count of 5)I was sharing room with other patients.

Check out the CDC site,or sites like thebody.com for more information on HIV/AIDS.Please educate yourself if you are taking care of a pt with HIV/AIDS.There are diseases we are susceptible to that people with a normal immune system don't have to think about,there is lab work that we need done that others don't get and it is VERY important that our meds are given on time and with or without food as ordered.

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Specializes in ICU.
Was this directed at me?

I agree completely. I was actually objecting to the notion that the older gentleman's dementia could contribute to his being infected with the retrovirus. Enough people have brouoght up the neutropenic, "reverse isolation" precautions, I didn't feel it necessary to add.

And yes, in this patient, lab studies are available. I was pertaining to the patients we DON'T know about, who've never been tested for HIV, and the general population of HIV patients who exist even though we don't know who they are (and sometimes they don't know who they are).

If I read too much into your post, I apologize. I've been on days this week and I'm starting nights tonight so I'm exhausted and overly sensitive.

*~Jess~*

Yeah, I think you read too much into it,,, I was just trying to be funny a little. Not directing at anyone. I can understand about being exhausted,, I feel it right now. I was up all night with my teenage son at the ER with a broken ankle while I had to go back into work for my fifth 12 hour shift today. ARGG!!! Now, I get ONE day off, just to go back for 3 more...... ........ It's alright.

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