The death rate in the United States is twice as high as Western Europe and 10 times higher than in the United Kingdom.
In healthcare, the largest risks for health care workers are needlesticks and blood exposure to non-intact skin.
The Bloodborne Pathogen Standard includes using safety devices, safe handling of sharps and hand washing, with the goal of preventing exposure.
Engineering controls are equipment or tools that employers must provide their health care employees which include containment devices, barriers, sharps containers or hand sanitizers.
In all health care settings, health care workers should practice Standard Precautions for all patients.
To avoid contracting HIV, the safest behavior is to abstain from having sex with unknown partners and from sharing injection needles.
The woman speaker wearing a purple blouse noted there are five federal laws that are based upon civil rights laws and protect people with disabilities from discrimination.
Sate law requires all HIV test requests and test results, regardless of the outcome of the results, be considered confidential.
State law states HIV information is confidential and cannot be released without the specific written consent of the person to whom it relates.
Newly diagnosed HIV positive persons are required to seek all sexual and needle sharing partners and disclose their HIV positive status to those partners.
State law prohibits discrimination for those with HIV, AIDS or the perception that someone has HIV/AIDS in employment or public service provisions, and it is illegal for health for health care providers to refuse treatment for people with HIV/AIDS.
The Personal Perspectives Panel shared that health care providers who show little empathy or compassion will provide the best care.
The basic modes of HIV transmission and prevention have not changed substantially over the past 20 years.
Health care providers treat each patient as an individual, and work to preserve the patient's dignity and quality of life.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 is also known as the Privacy Rule.
HIV transmission in the community can include:
Sexual contact; Sharing needles/syringes used for injection drug use; Birth and breast milk.
As HIV is not casually transmitted, how likely would HIV be transmitted via intact skin?
0% of the time.
Once a person is HIV positive, the infected cells are destroyed over time. Also destroyed over time is the:
Health Care Workers need to wash their hands:
First thing before touching a patient; Always before eating; Always after using the restroom.
Work practice controls are written policies that all health care providers must follow and cover the following:
Safe handling of sharps and using a sharps box; Separation of food/eating from body substances and includes hand washing/sanitizing; Proper procedures to handle body substances to prevent splashing; droplets and/or aerosolization.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) are items worn to eliminate or reduce risk of body substance exposure. Examples include:
Gloves (latex, non-latex, vinyl, or powder free to minimize problems for those with latex allergies); Facemasks and eye protection devices such as goggles; Gowns.
The protocol for cleaning up spills includes:
Waring Personal Protective Equipment; Absorb fluid and clean thoroughly; disinfect and allow to air dry; Contain waste and wash hands.
In order for a patient to be tested for HIV on a voluntary basis, consent must be:
Washington State requires mandatory HIV antibody testing for persons convicted of:
Sex crimes; Drug crimes involving needles; Prostitution crimes.
Under the HIPAA law, patient privacy rights include"
Notice of Privacy Practices; Access and amendment to medical records to correct medical information; Filing a complaint against a Cover Entity.
HIPAA defines Covered Entities as:
Health care providers who transmit health information electronically in connection with a transaction for which there is a HIPAA standard; Health plans; Health care clearinghouses.
The pharmacist noted the purpose of drug treatment and the most effective antiviral regimens do the following:
Increase CD4 count and decrease HIV viral load level; Monitoring both levels ensures drug treatment effectiveness; Slowing viral coping to prevent further damage.
Drugs to treat HIV infection include:
Fusion inhibitors; Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors; Protease inhibitors.
HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy) involves a minimum of how many drugs:
At least 3 drugs.
For health care workers who have been exposed on the job to HIV through a substantial exposure, it is important to consider Post-Exposure Prophylaxis treatment for what length of time:
Important factors to consider whether or not HIV is likely to be transmitted through a substantial exposure includes:
Large quantity of fluid; Is the source patient HIV positive and has a high viral load; Device visibly contaminated with blood or a hollow bore needle.
In treating dysphagia (difficulty in swallowing), dietary changes include avoiding:
Highly seasoned food; Acidic or salty food; Dry, sticky or abrasive food.
The BRAT diet to help deal with nausea and vomiting consists of:
Bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast.
Pain is a common problem with people with AIDS, and providers need to evaluate several factors related to this issue, including:
Degree of pain; Location, onset & duration of pain; intensity, time of day, What makes pain increase.
The HIV window period can be defined as the time it takes to develop antibodies to HIV and is usually:
3 weeks to 3 months
Oral Fluid tests or HIV Rapid Tests are:
Check for HIV antibodies; Results are available in 20 minutes; If a patient is reactive to HIV using these tests, they need to have a Western Blot Test performed to confirm they have HIV.
The role of the HIV antibody counselor is to:
Assess the patient's risk for HIV infection and knowledge of HIV transmission; Assess the patient's well being in handling a negative or positive result.
Patients who test HIV positive are required to do the following:
Disclose to sex and needle sharing partners that they are HIV positive.