To expect to be told if a patient of mine is HIV positive

[NCISaddict]

If I have asked them if they have any medical conditions I should be aware of?
I am aware that it is very difficult to catch and that they may have encountered judgemental attitudes in the past, which is totally unacceptable but if your condition could put your HCP at some risk (even though it would be small) then surely you should inform them?

yes, I think even if the pt is conscious and coherent you are still BU

I don't think they have to.
Surely there work guidelines telling you this..

How do you know now?

There are*

I think YABU as you appear to have singled out HIV. What about other communicable
diseases?

Has something happened to you?

YABU. I'm a dentist. I assume all patients are positive. Because some are and don't know. Some are and are concealing it, some are and have told me, some are not but carry something else. This is part of the job. Deal with it or change jobs. If your trust are not providing you with appropriate PPE then take that up with them. Even when I did first aid with brownies the first thing you do is check for Danger. You don't expose yourself. That mean in our professions taking Universal Precautions.

I think as a HCP of any kind you need to be working in full knowledge that a) a patient may lie about their HIV status b) a patient may be unaware that they're HIV positive and that c) a patient may in some circumstances be incapable of telling you their HIV status. Particularly the last one if you're a paramedic. For all of these reasons IMO you should be using the appropriate precautions where all patients are concerned, and if you don't, you're putting yourself at risk.

No. They have a right to privacy regardless of your job role. If their HIV status doesn't impact on the treatment/.role you play to them then there is no reason to tell you.

If knowing that they are Hiv positive would change how you manage their care then you need to look at addressing that, from a discrimination point of view as well as whether you could be exposing yourself to risk from those who do not know their status.

Using universal precautions is ideal but not always possible

Why?

I thought your guidelines would be to assume that everyone IS HIV+ tbh.

If you ask a patient you are treating if they have any medical conditions maybe they take that to mean 'any medical conditions that affect the treatment you need to give me'. I have a rectocoele but when I hurt my foot recently and had to get it X-rayed I didn't mention this as it didn't seem relevant.

Don't you presume every patient has HIV regardless of their answer? They may not know.

Yes YABU- the patient may not feel able to disclose for many reasons (other people with them for one) or just simply not know! Therefore ad a first line medical practitioner you should take full precautions at all times to protect yourself from all blood Bourne illnesses, as well as those that can be caught through contact with other bodily fluids etc.

I work in the prison service and the health care staff do not always know the HIV/hepatitis status of prisoners- they therefore air on the side of caution at all times. simple.

In the everyday life, you do not need to know.

But I knew personally a case when medics needed to come take care of a injured mentally unstable patient urgently, which means that every seconds counts. The guy bit a medic to the blood, fluids where in contact, and it was only days after that the medic was informed that the patient was HIV positive. This is not acceptable.

I can't, for example, wear eye protection all the time.

This thread has jogged my memory. I need to complete my aseptic techniques training by the end of the week

I do think YABU. In my job I take the same precautions with everyone so it wouldn't matter if they have HIV or not. I treat every patient like they could have a disease that they could transmit to me and protect myself as much as I can.

HCP here. you don't need to know. You treat everyone the same - after all it's the ones who don't yet even know they are HIV that are the most infectious- high viral load etc . When on treatment the viral load and infectivity is less .

I think YABU, simply because people aren't like that. They may feel ashamed that they have HIV, they may believe that they will be judged for having it. People do what they can to protect themselves both physically and emotionally and I think human nature is basically selfish.

Eye protection is a particularly neglected area, that is true

Depends, if you're treating them at the scene of an accident and there's a crowd of onlookers, if I were the patient I'd be reluctant to blurt it out in front of a bunch of strangers.

In the privacy of an ambulance, it would be considerate of them to say.

YANBU that's exactly the kind of information a patient should be honest about, more so than non-transmissible medical conditions (however small the risk).

Also the fact that you're a first responder and your job involves a certain amount of danger to assist patients and presumably don't have much discretion about who you agree to treat. That makes it worse too.

Do tattooists need to be told is someone they're working on is HIV +?
Sorry if it's off topic but I genuinely wanted to know.

it's often not possible, fidel

Yanbu. Have you had the post exposure jab?

I'm terrified of aids as when I grew up there were adverts on the TV all the time with a tombstone saying aids is a death sentence. Its stopped me from shagging around

Off topic is HIV getting weaker?

Doesn't it vary from country to country if you are HIV+. Some you just need one stream, others the full 13-14.

What's not possible?