Nursing student and AIDS risk

Lisa CCU RN, RN · Jul 14, 2006

No more risk than after you graduate from nursing school. Are you asking if there is a higher risk if you are a healthcare worker period?

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jul 14, 2006

Treat all patients as if they are infected with a fatal disease, use common sense with needles and the risk is lessened.

Good luck.

stw6 · Jul 14, 2006

Well, I was hoping you would say there was a less risk while in school. The risk of AIDS is the only things that really freaks me out. I know after school I can work in areas of less risk. Maybe Im paranoid...or just too scared to be a nurse. Is anyone else as scared as me?

AuntieRN · Jul 14, 2006

Anywhere that you work that you may come in contact with bodily fluids is a risk to catch AIDS if you do not practice universal precautions (I know its not called that anymore but I can not for the life of me remember what it is called now). Like Tweety said just treat everyone like they are infected, wear your gloves and wash your hands. The person you least expect to have AIDS can have it, you just never know. Also, we were taught you had a higher chance of contacting hepatitis than AIDS from a needlestick or exposure as a healthcare worker. Good luck to you.

shock-me-sane · Jul 14, 2006

your biggest risk be sleeping with someone with hiv.

it's okay to be concerned to the extent that you ensure you always use standard precautions. have you done much research on hiv/aids?

elkpark · Jul 14, 2006

While I'm no expert myself, I have read repeatedly that the risk to healthcare workers is actually quite low (whether students or "pros"). While there are plenty of HIV+ healthcare workers out there, most of them got infected the same ways everyone else does, NOT through workplace exposure. I've read that the incidence of infection through (healthcare) workplace exposure is very low, and all of those cases have been through unusual, "heavy duty" exposures, not the typical minor needle pricks, etc.

As Tweety noted, use universal precautions and common sense, and you'll be just fine.

If you really are seriously freaked out about the mere possibility, you may want to think about whether nursing is really for you. Throughout history, there have always been fatal illnesses, often with no treatment available, to which healthcare workers were/are exposed as part of their job. It just comes with the territory ... HIV/AIDS is just the "highest profile" disease these days. There are plenty of others out there, and there'll be another disease along shortly, I'm sure (remember SARS?).

Even when you think you're in a situation of "less risk," you can't really know for sure, which is why it's important to get in the habit of always, consistently, using universal precautions.

Bonny619 · Jul 14, 2006

Id be more worried about MRSA...

PhoenixGirl · Jul 14, 2006

Most hospitals have protections in place to keep us safe. For example, IV needles are now in the plastic, so to speak, so when you are withdrawing and keeping the cath in the vein, you don't have a chance of getting stuck. Or, when you are giving an IM or SQ injection, you immediately slide your protector up before you put the needle in the proper waste container.

I had a pt with HEP b and c, plus Aids, with multiple wounds on her back. When giving her her bedbath I gowned and gloved. Just to make sure anything leaking would not get on me. But really, she is more in danger from me, than I am of her. With such a weakend immune system I could kill her from my stomach bug or sore throat infection. Or possibly with meds I'm administering to her since the liver is not functioning properly to clean her blood. Many things!

I think when contagious diseases are involved, AIDS is less of a worry than say, MRSA in someone's sputum and they are coughing all over the place. Or Hepatitis since it lives outside of the body for days whereas HIV can't.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jul 14, 2006

Is there a high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS while in nursing school?

You're at a substantially higher risk of contracting viral hepatitis in the healthcare setting, while the risk of contracting HIV is much smaller. The hepatitis virus is hard to kill; in fact, it takes 30 minutes of boiling water to kill hepatitis B once it contaminates a surface. Just be sure to utilize standard precautions at all times.

Kiren · Jul 14, 2006

I don't know if I would "fear" getting an HIV infection as a nurse. I think we need to maintain our sense of caution with ALL pts. We don't know what undiagnosed infectious disease anyone has. Always remember not to take shortcuts. Always use Universal Precautions.

NaomieRN · Jul 14, 2006

Use precaution at all times with all patients.