Alarming! CDO ranks no 1in HIV cases in Region 10

There's an image circulated by Bianca Fajardo that shows the number of people infected with HIV from the years 1997 to 2017.

Apparently CDO now ranks number 1! 

Image CTTO Bianca Fajardo

Now it's important to note that HIV can affect everyone regardless of sexual orientation. This should not be used against anyone or even to blame the victims of this virus.

Education about this virus is already in place. What we should focus on is to remove the stigma and hate. Beccause of the fear of discrimination, people infected are afraid to get help. This can lead to suicide, non compliance of treatment and unfortunate cases of revenge (intentionally infection others) or denial (denies status and keeps on with sexual activity).

Remember, we nurses also have a high risk of getting infected not just with HIV but also with other diseases. Everyday at work we risk ourselves especially when handling sharps like syringes and blades that come into contact with blood. Procedures that also expose us to body fluids can also be a source of infection.

I know it's a against the law for a hospital t0 divulge the HIV status of an individual but I think it's important for nurses to know if their patient is infected not just with HIV but any other dangerous pathogen. Especially if the nurse is actively caring for the patient. 

One experience of mine was when I had a client in the surgical ward. He was admitted for poor wound healing. After looking at the labs, I found it very alarming to see such a low WBC even though he had a large pus filled lesion. At that time we at the station weren't informed how to report such cases to a committee because the mindset of our admin was to keep  quiet about it.

As a patient advocate, I asked the surgeon on duty if it's alright that we tag the patient for counseling and inform any HIV committee we had. What I didn't know was that our committee already knew but didn't inform us. 

The problem was this. Because our committee preferred to sweep everything under the rug, we might have endangered the life of the patient.

We cleaned his wounds often. But here's the thing. We only had one dressing tray for the entire ward. We were basically cleaning other patients and bringing over the dressing tray to the immune suppressed patient. 

After knowing the status, I then secured a separate dressing tray for his safety. However I cringed at  thought that we spent the 2 weeks using the same tray we used on others on him. All because the approach of our committee was antiquated and not really patient centered in my opinion.

Another threat are needle stick injuries. God forbid one happens to anyone but accidents do happen despite an effort in keeping safe. And since our committee doesn't like to inform us I can't imagine how many patients we've cared for and had HIV/AIDS. Our committee proudly boasted of that fact that they kept us in the dark. All because they had a weird interpretation of current laws.

So nurses take care always. I know most hospitals don't have needle stick injury protocols. Well mine doesn't have one anyway. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.