Nurses' knowledge and fear in caring for patients with HIV/AIDS

Abstract

There is an abundance of nursing literature on nurses' knowledge of HIV/AIDS, yet there is a paucity of studies exploring fear of nurses in caring for HIV/AIDS patients. The aim of this study, was to explore registered nurses' knowledge on HIV/AIDS and their fear in caring for patients with HIV/AIDS. A descriptive survey approach was used to fulfil this aim. Convenience sampling was used and three male medical wards were chosen for the study. A total of fifteen nurses met the inclusion criteria. Nurses' knowledge and fear were explored by using a self-administered questionnaire and a 100% response rate was obtained. Findings suggest that knowledge is variable amongst nurses, with knowledge being high in certain areas and low in others. The findings also suggest, that nurses experience fear when caring for HIV/AIDS patients. Several recommendations were made including organization of more in-service training courses and issuing of a regular AIDS update bulletin; organization of a permanent counseling service for nurses, by management and repetition of the· study, using a questionnaire and an observational schedule with a larger randomly-chosen sample.