HIV+ Nursing student!

[disconurse]

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?

[herecomestrouble]

Did you ever see the movie "And the Band Played On"?It's about the beginning of the AIDS pandemic and how much of what wasn't done was do to politics,both in government and within the scientific community.Very interesting but upsetting too.To think that our lives were put behind other peoples need for glory.

[feliz3]

Maybe you can do the inservice without disclosing your personal info, since you don't know them that well. Maybe you can feel them out during the teaching process to see how they react to the info given?

I think this is a brilliant idea. People in general are afraid of what they do not know, and an In-service is the way toward clarification and to dispel the misconceptions surrounding HIV positive people. I was an HIV educator for the Hispanic Program for the American Red Cross, and my job which was volunteer entailed giving In-services to retired nurses about HIV education so they could maintain current their license by keeping up with new medical information. I believe it is best to keep your serostatus confidential for it does not serve any purpose to attract attention to the fact that you are positive...that is your sole business and should be treated on need to know basis...my opinion feliz3

[cot mom]

Do the inservice then if you choose not to tell your coworkers at least youve educated them and that is what nursing is about. This is your life and being a small town girl I can tell you word travels fast and this could impact more than just your career if you decide to open up to everyone at once. maybe you should wait a while and make a few friends first.

[feliz3]

I am a certified clinical drug/alcohol counselor level-II in Wisconsin, right here in California, I am CADC-II for Arnold did not want approve giving a license to drug/alcohol counselors at the level I have it in Wisconsin. While living and working in Wisconsin, as an addiction specialist my job responsibility entailed going to the local jail to educate inmates about HIV. My experience is an illustration about the politics of HIV within the inmate population in Wisconsin...five years ago.

As part of my job I had to educate the inmates about HIV and its risk. However, I was not allowed to encourage the inmates to test for the presence of HIV antibodies in their blood. Many of the inmates expressed their wish to get tested, and I wanted to do the testing, give the emotional support, etc. However, the Sherif in charge of the intitution I was assigned to go to told me that if I wanted to continue educating the inmates, I had to discourge them from requesting an HIV test for he had no intention of paying for the long term treatment for the inmates who tested positive. The testing was free for that was part of the educational services I was offering, but the treatment was not, so I saw myself in a predicament between my obligation to educated the inmates and the threat to be kicked out of jail as the designated HIV educator if someone requested an HIV test and the results were positive. The fact was that an inmate has the right to request an HIV test, and it cannot be refused to give it to him. As a result of the education I was giving them all of the sudden a lot of immates were requesting HIV tests, and that was when the Sherif called me to his office to have a conversation with me.

It has been documented on inmates getting infected with HIV in jail, and I believed and still do inmates should now their serostatus before and after engaging in practices that put them at high risk of being infected with HIV. After getting out of the sherif office, I felt like someone put a rope on my neck when I heard what the sherif told me.

This subject on the post brough back this difficult period on my life. I encourage, the nurse from the small town to give an In-service, which thoroughly educates her co-workers, but do not reveal anything about her HIV+ status not even to friends for this is information that is on "need to know" basis, actually. Best, feliz3

[rtcmcm]

I an a third year nursing student in NJ. We are tought HIV and AIDS are two of the reasons that universal precaushions were developed. If these precautions are utilized properly there is no reason that anyone should recive substandard care.

I think you should take the opertunity to re-educate your co-workers of this fact. This way you do not have to identify or even bring suspishion upon your self reguarding your status.

melody