Institute for Continuing Education

HIV/AIDS Update

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

• Describe the current state of the HIV epidemic, including global and domestic epidemiological trends and the impact of treatment advances on disease outcomes.
• Identify the most common pulmonary manifestations of HIV in the current treatment era and explain how these differ from patterns observed earlier in the epidemic.
• Explain the principles of modern antiretroviral therapy, including preferred regimens, the concept of treatment as prevention (U=U), and long-acting injectable options.
• Apply current infection control guidelines, including standard precautions and transmission-based precautions, to respiratory care practice.
• Describe the updated protocols for occupational exposure management, including post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) recommendations.

Course Information

The threat of exposure to HIV has been a concern of healthcare workers for some time now; and not without reason. There are numerous documented cases of persons working in a variety of healthcare settings becoming infected as a result of their day to day work.

As an example, according to the Exposure Prevention Information Network, between 1993 and 1995 there were 664 needlesticks and sharps injury cases reported by healthcare workers employed at 77 hospitals:

a. Nurses were by far the largest group of workers represented in the total figure,
with 49 percent of the needlesticks;
b. Physicians, including interns, accounted for 16 percent;
c. Phlebotomists for eight percent;
d. Paramedics for one percent; and
e. Respiratory therapists and housekeeping staff for three percent each.

The good news is that post-exposure prophylaxis for healthcare workers has shown some success in reducing HIV transmission rates among those with occupational exposure to HIV-infected blood.