HIV+ Nursing student!

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Hi guys!

I have a question. I recently moved to a new state and had to change employers. I am a nursing student who is HIV+. The hospital I worked at previously placed no restrictions on me. The new hospital however has placed restrictions on the care I provide. I am not able to do anything with a needle or blood period. I am ok with this, it is the hospitals policy and if I want to work there I have to adhere to it. The only people that know on my department are my manager and asst. manager. I have to have co-workers do the tasks I am not allowed to. For the most part everyone has been willing, but I can tell there are some who think I am just being lazy. It came to my attention while we had a HIV+ pt. on the floor that my co-workers did not understand this illness at all. I was very hurt by some of the things said and practices used in this pts care. I have spoken to my manager and she asked if there should be an inservice on the floor about HIV care and if I would like to do direct the inservice to make it closer to home. The hospital I came from was in a larger city and the hospital was vert knowlegable. My new hospital is in a small town and the hospital itself is small. So what are your thoughts? Should I take the plunge and advance awareness and educate or should I be silent?

HIV Status is specifically protected by ADA....

http://www.ada.gov/pubs/hivqanda.txt

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I wonder.

Has there ever been a documented case (and we all have to acknowledge, this would be hard to document) where a nurse (or other HCP) who had AIDS transmitted it to a patient?

If there is, it kind of leads a case against letting PWA's work in direct patient care, depending on the circumstances.

If there is not (which I suspect is the case either because it has not happened or due to an inability to document exactly WHO gave it), it may lead for building a rational argument for not treating you any different.

There is one other consideration.

TB. We have to be checked annually for that. If we have active TB are we going to be allowed to work as direct patient care givers? Somehow, I doubt it. Considering that HIV is not something curable, is it really surprising people have a knee-jerk reaction? Obviously, they want to protect themselves. The same thought process could apply to Hepatitis as well.

What I wonder, is how long before we are all given annual tests to ensure we don't have a plethora of diseases. I know I was given a HBV titer when I was first employed. They wanted to be 100% sure on us on that disease as well. The other question then comes up, is it bad we have to be given such a test to ensure we don't carry diseases to give patients?

Yes there has. The very first case was a Dentist who was gay and HIV positive and didn't know it. He gave the virus to a girl that was a virgin.

That is where ALL of your universal precautions came from.

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Specializes in Registered Nurse/Cert.Medical Instructor.
You are 190% incorrect...HPV is contagious. It is a sexually transmitted disease.

Also, if you do teach school, you are not legally permitted to ask your students their HIV or Hep status...you know why? Because of universal precautions.

I'm surprised as an instructor...that you don't know that.

Of course I know the policies and procedures.

I have not ever asked any of my students their health conditions. There may be times where they feel they need to confide. I was under the assumption we were discussing Aids. Big difference than HPV virus.

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Of course I know the policies and procedures.

I have not ever asked any of my students their health conditions. There may be times where they feel they need to confide. I was under the assumption we were discussing Aids. Big difference than HPV virus.

When you said you had 'trouble placing students', to me, that leads me to believe that you are passing along information that you know about a student's health status...since you are both an instructor and a nurse, I sure hope I misinterpreted that.

As you know one of the major distinguishing factors in HIV vs AIDS is t-cell count. However, it doesn't make the person any more or less contagious regarding their status.

Now, if the person who has full-blown AIDS got a contagious disease d/t them going from HIV + to AIDS...then only the disease that they have is required to be disclosed, not the fact that they have AIDS...especially if it can be passed on to other patients....

....just like any other HCP or nurse who had the same disease.

AIDS is never what kills you, it's the diseases and conditions you contract because you have no ability to fight them off, is what kills you.

But just because the rising t-cell count puts them in the AIDS catagory, that doesn't mean that has to be disclosed either.

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Specializes in Registered Nurse/Cert.Medical Instructor.
When you said you had 'trouble placing students', to me, that leads me to believe that you are passing along information that you know about a student's health status...since you are both an instructor and a nurse, I sure hope I misinterpreted that.

As you know one of the major distinguishing factors in HIV vs AIDS is t-cell count. However, it doesn't make the person any more or less contagious regarding their status.

Now, if the person who has full-blown AIDS got a contagious disease d/t them going from HIV + to AIDS...then only the disease that they have is required to be disclosed, not the fact that they have AIDS...especially if it can be passed on to other patients....

....just like any other HCP or nurse who had the same disease.

AIDS is never what kills you, it's the diseases and conditions you contract because you have no ability to fight them off, is what kills you.

But just because the rising t-cell count puts them in the AIDS catagory, that doesn't mean that has to be disclosed either.

You definitely misinterpreted , you don't know me and it is hard communicating on a thread. So I will forgive what you may misinterpreted. I have been in this field and research too long to let anyone bother me . I do what is right, and importantly I care an awful lot. We also have a rule it is called confidentially. I am happy for you that you are reading up on the difference between HIV vs AIDS . There is so much information , keep learning.:

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Your health status should be protected just as everyone elses. Do the inservice only if you feel comfortable!

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You definitely misinterpreted , you don't know me and it is hard communicating on a thread. So I will forgive what you may misinterpreted. I have been in this field and research too long to let anyone bother me . I do what is right, and importantly I care an awful lot. We also have a rule it is called confidentially. I am happy for you that you are reading up on the difference between HIV vs AIDS . There is so much information , keep learning.:

I did noticed that you didn't answer my question...how is the hospital learning of student's HIV status that come from your program??

When we do our clinicals or externships, the first time we are at the hospital is when we start working...b/c we are with our perceptor. So how is it that so many of your hospitals know of this information about your students?

Since you are a new member, I'll let you know I am in my late 30's...I have known this about AIDS LONG before I started nursing school. Doing research on HIV and AIDS has been a lifelong hobby of mine and I am very, very passionate about the rights of those that are positive.

You don't have to be in nursing school to educate yourself about major healthcare concerns.

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Why can't an HIV positive nurse start an IV on a patient? For heavens sakes, you aren't sharing a needle with them. Unfortunately, the world is filled with small minded pea-brains who can not wrap their head around HIV, so for that reason, i would keep my status to myself.

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This is AIDS , and it is contagious. Cancer is not, depression is not, and the HPV virus is not. As a nurse comes responsibilities to the patients which is to give all the care you can. What if the patient was choking and you had to stick your fingers in there mouth and got bitten, or what if you fell and got cut? If anyone and I mean anyone is for helping with the aids virus it is me. But come on be honest , thats all be honest to your employees and co-workers. They will respect you more. Besides if healthcare professionals are not going to treat their aids patients to their best ability , they shouldn't be in the health care field. Healthcare workers with Hep C or AIDS are considered a risk to the employer, it is what is is. I had students that had Hep. C and other illnesses. it was the difficult to get them on externship. This is where I am from. Remember that Nurses along with doctors take that oath.

I can't even believe you would give such a LAME example of why HIV+ nurses should not provide nursing care (I'm referring to the ridiculous fingers-down-the-throat/fall down and cut yourself). Oh lord! Talk about small town U.S.A.!

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Specializes in Registered Nurse/Cert.Medical Instructor.

I apologize from the bottom of my heart. My post was not accurate in what I was trying to say. Of course I believe nurses with HIV should work. of course. I was trying to make a metaphor and it came out wrong and I couldn't edit correctly. I am 56 yo and in the 1980's we got pulled to a huge conference room and they announced this new virus. and how it was contacted. I along with my co-workers left that room thinking about all the times we were unprotected. And couldn't understand why we were not aware earlier. OH well. What a way to learn. It diden't change the way i practiced , I still hated the gloves, we try to be careful after all we were from the old school. My AIDS patients were my most loving, they knew more about their virus than I did.

The university where I had taught did not require a medical HX on students to enroll. I taught microbiology , lab, cell identification . The students were allowed to practice phlebtomy on each other so I have been around blood along time. We did smears /microscope. and stained the differential blood draws. I not ever asked nor did It make a difference on how I treated my students. We followed OSHA guidelines, I love my students and I try so hard to prepare them for the outside world. If someone tells you something in confidence , that means confidence. I am so grateful and happy that most of my students are working and on externships: after all every facility I go to I run into one of my students , I feel like a proud mama. So I have no idea their medical history , nor do I want to know , nor would it matter to me as I treat all the same. Besides they are now take care of me when I go for my visits. Therefore what I meant is it wise to cover yourself, so if you get fired there is no discrimination ( Philadelphia is a great movie based on a true story). There are so many viruses and bacterias out there , who knows what who has, and I care most about how caring that nurse is , not about their medical condition. I haven't taught all my career, I loved nursing and I pray we get more nurses ,as where I am from there is too much of a shortage, and they are so so overworked. I apologize again for the misrepresentation, as I was answering an old post.

Bless You,

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I apologize from the bottom of my heart. My post was not accurate in what I was trying to say. Of course I believe nurses with HIV should work. of course. I was trying to make a metaphor and it came out wrong and I couldn't edit correctly. I am 56 yo and in the 1980's we got pulled to a huge conference room and they announced this new virus. and how it was contacted. I along with my co-workers left that room thinking about all the times we were unprotected. And couldn't understand why we were not aware earlier. OH well. What a way to learn. It diden't change the way i practiced , I still hated the gloves, we try to be careful after all we were from the old school. My AIDS patients were my most loving, they knew more about their virus than I did.

I can imagine what a day like that must have been.

I was in high school when Rock Hudson died. I remember the controversy over it being "too expensive" to test the entire blood supply for Hep C (b/c most AIDS patients at the time, which were mostly gay or drug users, also had Hep C), and it was the closest thing to a test until they discovered how to test for HIV.

I remember the head of the CDC, getting on national television, saying that women could be carriers but would most likely never contract the disease....now we all know how incorrect that is.

It seems appauling that expense was even considered back then with regards to protecting the nations blood supply. It was only when children started dying, and the gays refused to be labeled, that the real AIDS movement began....and I am very, very glad that it never ended.

If it forced anything on the general public...it's education.

I traveled 8 hours to see the AIDS quilt for the last time in it's entirety in Washington, DC. I walked around it counting on my fingers the people that had died...18, 21, 27..and watched the numbers get smaller, 2, 4, 7.

Ryan White was an amazing child, and it was horrible what happened to him in his school, as he contracted HIV d/t hemophelia via a contaminated blood transfusion. Children called him gay. Parents didn't want him in school. They made him eat from paper plates by himself. They had meetings about them. They vandalized his home. Other children wouldn't be around him. :crying2:

We have come such a long, long way. I will always be grateful that I have been able to watch the journey from the beginning, and I hope that when I grow old, I'll be able to witness a cure. :)

Now you know...why I am very, very passionate about those that have the virus.

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Specializes in Family Practice and Primary Care.
Yes there has. The very first case was a Dentist who was gay and HIV positive and didn't know it. He gave the virus to a girl that was a virgin.

That is where ALL of your universal precautions came from.

Man, I would hate to have been the insurance company holding his .

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