HIV Positive? As Your Therapist, I Need To Know

Great Debates
41

Thank you for the thread, Quasimodem - you didn’t word anything badly, IMHO. It’s so difficult to please all the folks all the time, ya know. :slight_smile:

42

So I guess you’re only at risk of contracting diseases the patient knows they have? :rolleyes:

Can you say “universal precautions”?

I knew you could.
(ps - occupationally-acquired HIV is very rare. You are much more likely to be infected with Hepatitis C or another disease. A patient who discloses their HIV status to all health care workers puts themselves at risk for being treated like a leper. And health care workers who “demand to know” the HIV status of all their patients are probably the ones most likely to treat them that way.)

43

So I guess you’re only at risk of contracting diseases the patient knows they have? :rolleyes:

Can you say “universal precautions”?

I knew you could.
ps - occupationally-acquired HIV is very rare. You are much more likely to be infected with Hepatitis C or another disease. A patient who discloses their HIV status to all health care workers puts themselves at risk for being treated like a leper. And health care workers who “demand to know” the HIV status of all their patients are probably the ones most likely to treat them that way. This is just common sense. Like others have said, you should treat all patients as though they have communicable diseases. But I’m sure, as a health care worker, you know that…?