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

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

Design: A questionnaire that explored attitudes about AIDS was disseminated from one extremity to the other of southern New Jersey. Identity of individual responder was preserveed carefully.

Results: undivided hundred fifty-nine responses were received. The majority of responder favored identification of patients with AIDS, segregation of those patients into AIDS wards, and then avoidance of the AIDS wards. There was a bias against patients with known high-risk behaviors (especially medicine abuse), but once a patient had AIDS the fear of getting AIDS was the alone factor that correlated (p=0.001) with the desire to avoid AIDS patients. Thirty-nine percent of responder said that they used universal precautions les 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 exhibits a rational desire not to become infected with the HIV virus. This consideration documents an identify-and-avoid philosophy in lieu of careful use of universal precautions. Educational efforts ne to emphasize that the use of precautions depicts the only truly effective means of preventing infection with the AIDS virus and other communicable diseases. (Chest 1994; 106:427-30)

CPFT = certified pulmonary function technician; CRTT = certified respiratory therapy technician; IVDA = intravenous unsalable article abuser; RCP = respiratory care practitioner; RPFT = registered pulmonary function technician; RRT = registered respiratory therapist

It is estimated that from one side of to the other a million people in the United States are already infected with HIV. It is anticipated that during the nearest decade the number of commonalty who will develop AIDS will increase dramatically.[1]

observes of healthcare students (nursing, medical, and dental),[2,3] nurses[4-7] house officers,[8] and attending physicians[5,6,9,10] have revealed widespread disturb among healthcare workers about the risk of occupational front to HIV. To date, there has been no consideration of the attitudes and practices of respiratory care practitioners (RCPs) Whereas respiratory complications (infectious and noninfectious) are among the in the greatest degree common complications of AIDS,[11] RCP repeatedly participate directly in the care of these patients. Furthermore, the tasks performed by dint of RCPs - administering aerosolized pentamidine, obtaining induced sputum drawing arterial kindred gases, suctioning, overseeing mechanical ventilators - routinely involve potential exposing to infected body fluids. To determine the prevailing attitudes of RCP toward AIDS patients, we decided to guidance a survey of RCPs in the Delaware Valley.

METHODS

The Respiratory Care Departments at all of the hospitals in the southern of the present day jersey region as defined by the agency of the New jersey Society for Respiratory Care (from Trenton to Cape May) were contacted on one of the authors. Permission was solicited to survey the respiratory care staff. Twenty-five hospitals were large enough to have directors of respiratory care. Eighteen of the 25 directors (72 percent) gave permission. A questionnaire (available to readers immediately after request to authors) was sent to each of the 275 RCP in succession staff at these 18 different hospitals. The questionnaire was designed to obtain information about RCPs' attitudes toward patients who were in known risk arranges for HIV infection, who were known to be HIV-positive, and who had patent AIDS. it sought to delineate attitudes about the following: (1) the issue of mandatory HIV testing; (2) attitudes toward patients with AIDS and AIDS risk factors; (3) willingness to care for HIV-positive patients; (4) perceived risk of becoming infected with HIV [i]or[/i] part of to the other patient contact; (5) how effectively universal precautions obstruct transmission; (6) how faithfully RCP practice universal precautions; and (7) the adequacy of AIDS education the one and the other in respiratory therapy school and forward the job. The questionaire was based upon one used in a prior study[2]

The questionnaire emphasized that all replications would be anonymous and confidential. The recipient was instructed to integral anonymously the questionnaire, seal it in an accompanying coma and mail it directly to a central location within 60 days.

Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPS version 41 Chicago).

RESULTS

Demographics

united hundred fifty-nine (58 percent) of the 275 RCP contacted recured the completed questionnaire. One hundr seven (67 percent) of the 159 responder were women and 52 (33 percent) were men The mean age was 336 years. Eighty percent of responder worked replete time, 10 percent part time, and 10 percent worked puddle or per diem. Sixty-nine (44 percent) were registered respiratory therapists (RRTs) 74 (47 percent) were certified respiratory therapy technicians (CRTTs) 2 (12 percent) were either certified or registered pulmonary function technicians (CPFT or RPFTs) and 12 (76 percent) had other respiratory care credentials.

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