Caring for people with AIDS in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital: Staff attitudes and knowledge

Abstract

Health workers (HWs) play a pivotal role in preventative programmes being implemented to combat the steady increase in the prevalence of HIV infection and AIDS in Nigeria. We report on a questionnaire survey conducted in October, 1993 among 111 doctors, 92 nurses and 53 non-health workers at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria. The aim was to assess their knowledge of AIDS (for all groups) and the attitude of the HWs only towards the care of patients with AIDS (PWAs). Although important gaps in knowledge were found in all groups, doctors performed significantly better than non-health workers on 22 out of 23 knowledge items, and more than nurses on 8 of such items. Nurses scored significantly higher than non-health workers on 18 of the knowledge items and more than doctors on one knowledge item. About one in three nurses would hesitate to nurse a PWA, while half would not participate in birth delivery. Also, about a quarter of doctors would hesitate to treat a PWA while one in three would not carry out surgery despite adequate precautions. The findings compare favourably with those reported from other countries. However, they still indicate the need for a comprehensive AIDS education package to improve the knowledge base and allay fears for all groups and to prepare HWs for the important task of caring for PWAs.

Attitude of health care workers to patients and colleagues infected with human immunodeficiency virus

“…These findings are similar to those in other Nigerian studies (Adelekan et al, 1995;Oyeyemi et al, 2006).…”

“…This suggests that the discriminatory attitudes exhibited by the respondents are of multifactorial aetiology and not confined to any group of HCWs. However, the tendency of nurses and auxiliary nurses to be more discriminatory, which has previously been reported (Adelekan et al, 1995), may be due to their poorer knowledge of HIV transmission in comparison to physicians, as has been shown in previous studies (Adelekan et al, 1995;Ezedinachi et al, 2002). The importance of this finding is that in the current roll-out programmes a lot more HIV care is provided through nurses than doctors.…”

“…Studies have documented negative attitudes to PLWHA in health care settings in Nigeria and elsewhere (Adelekan et al, 1995;Fido & Al Kamezi, 2002;Hentgen, Jaureguiberry, Ramiliarisoa, Andrianantoandro & Belec, 2002;Quach, Mayer, McGarvey, Lurie & Do, 2005;Reis et al, 2005). Physicians and nurses have been reported to be uncomfortable when administering medical procedures to HIV-infected patients (Oyeyemi, Oyeyemi & Bello, 2006;Oyeyemi, Oyeyemi & Bello, 2008), while in one study (Fransman, McCulloch, Lavies & Hussey, 2000) more than half of respondents were found to be reluctant to perform invasive procedures on HIV-infected children.…”

A Study on the assessment of knowledge and attitude of radiographers towards HIV/AIDS patients in Anambra state.

“…In the current study there were 93.4% who have never attended any occupational training program regarding AIDS or HIV prevention. The findings compare favourably with those reported from other research (Adelekan et al, 1995;Ugochukwu ,2003;Lui et al .,2012 ) . They had also found that important knowledge gaps and appreciation of occupational training programs in all health categories which they considered.…”

HIV/AIDS-Related Knowledge and Sources of Information among Secondary School Students in Enugu Nigeria

“…12,13 Knowledge were often inadequate, while perceptions and misconceptions were prevalent as were prejudices and popular myths in the societies concerned about people with AIDS especially among young people. [14][15][16][17][18][19] The exceptions are in situations where Sex/AIDS education are entrenched in the school curriculum. 20,21 In 1981, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) developed and incorporated a school based population education programme at the secondary school level.…”