Respiratory Care Practitioners' Attitudes Toward Patients With AIDS

¹ From the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the Respiratory Care Department, Cooper Hospital/University Medical Center, Camden, NJ.

Objective: To assess attitudes of respiratory care practitioners about AIDS and patients with AIDS.

Design: A questionnaire that explored attitudes about AIDS was disseminated throughout southern New Jersey. Identity of individual responders was protected carefully.

Results: One hundred fifty-nine responses were received. The majority of responders favored identification of patients with AIDS, segregation of those patients into AIDS wards, and then avoidance of the AIDS wards. There was some bias against patients with known high-risk behaviors (especially drug abuse), but once a patient had AIDS the fear of getting AIDS was the only factor that correlated (p=0.001) with the desire to avoid AIDS patients. Thirty-nine percent of responders said that they used universal precautions less than 90 percent of the time, and no factor (including fear of AIDS and markers of education) predicted which therapists did not consistently use them.

Conclusions: The desire to avoid AIDS represents a rational desire not to become infected with the HIV virus. This study documents an identify-and-avoid philosophy in lieu of careful use of universal precautions. Educational efforts need to emphasize that the use of precautions represents the only truly effective means of preventing infection with the AIDS virus and other communicable diseases.