Management of Patients with HIV and AIDS - Research Paper Example

Management of patients with HIV and AIDS al Affiliation) Introduction In current situation, about 2 million people have been estimated to be living with HIV in United States and strategies have been put forward to increase treatment of the people and they live longer with improvement in quality of life than it was before. Through this, there is indication that there is need to improve primary care through care physicians on routine care. There is need of doctors explaining to those that are infected the need and management practices that they should undertake to ensure that there is prolonged life (Wnuk, 2008).According to Center of Disease Control, there are factors that should be considered for better management of HIV patients. There have also been guidelines that have been given by other government agencies and recommendations on management and prevention of further infection of the disease. Management of patients with HIV and AIDS Staying health is a factor that is considered in management of the patients. In this aspect, management of the patients should include taking medication as directed. When medicine is not taken as directed, there is lowering the level of immunity that defends the body causing the level of virus in the body to go up (Wnuk, 2008).This reduces the effectiveness of medicine when they are taken. In staying healthy, one should tell the doctor if there are side effects as a result of using to help the doctor help with dealing with the side effects. Telling about the status is a management practice that should also be considered. One infected with HIV should make sure that the other partners are aware of the status. This will make them be able to take care and reduce the risk of contracting the infection. Management of this situation should involve contacting health departments who offer partner services to help the partners about the exposure. Through the services, the staff is able to find drug and sex partners to tell them the risk of being exposed to HIV and STDs. Not taking risk is a management practice that should be considered in management. HIV is spread through body fluids. The most common spread of the disease is through unprotected sex and through sharing sharp objects and other drug equipment. Viral load is important in a person living with the infection since the higher the viral infection, the higher the risk of spreading the virus. Protection aspect is important. When there are other infections that occur in a person living with the infection, there should be no taking chances. The person should get tested and treated for the infections. A person with HIV and other infections such as STDs have high risk of spreading the infection. Avoiding taking risk is important and should be done through abstinence. If there is no ability of abstinence, there should be use of condoms. Drug equipment should not be shared. When the tools are shared, fluid gets into them and spread to other users. Other items that have blood or other body fluids should not also be shared to protect the others from getting infected. People who live with HIV are prone to common health conditions due to the infection. There re risk factors that increases the rate. The factors that should be looked on are those oh healthy eating and avoiding the use of alcohol and smoking. Management of the people should consider monitoring of these levels. This can be done through monitoring and cancellations of patients on their sexual history and other behaviors that make them more to risk their lives. HIV specialists should be familiar with primary issues that are involved in caring for the patients and physicians being familiar with recommendation that they give patients on drugs and practices that they are to involve (Payne, 2010).These infections lead to reduction in life span of those who live with the infection. Management thus increases the life span of the patients (Payne, 2010). Emotional aspects are important in management of HIV patients. In this aspect, those that are newly diagnosed of the infection needs more emotional support as some of them may not be aware of the risks that are associated to the disease. In emotions, there is need to make the patients to be confident (Payne, 2010).This is due to the sensitive aspect of information on HIV. The patients should be concerned with confidentiality through agreement on a policy. To increase confidentiality is to be maintained by the clinicians that carry out the diagnosis through practices such as consideration on where and how to record the results that are obtained from diagnosis from a patient. Knowledge and education is an important aspect in management of people living with HIV. Historically there have been instances of discrimination of distress to those that are affected with the disease. Those that are affected can be educated on management of distress that may be as a result of discrimination from others. To maintain this education, there have been information sites where patients are able to obtain information that is necessary for their upkeep (Miller & Patel, 2012) There have been measures that have put up by ART to manage patients living with HIV. A primary care approach to initiation of ART in eligible patients is to be taken: all patients should be evaluated for ART through clinical and laboratory assessment at the point of entry into the health service (le R Booysen, 2003). The patient should be seen six monthly if well, more often if unwell or newly started on some policies that have been used in management of patients living with the infection. This chapter provides a routine approach to the consultation with the adult with HIV. “Adult” has many age definitions. Care for adolescents should be provided by the most appropriate and experienced available clinician this is due to complexities that occur in the adolescent with the sex drive that they have. Ideally, adolescents are managed in specialized clinics attached to pediatric clinics, but this may not be available. Routine management of the patients includes accessing some aspects including weight of the patient to ensure that there is no much reduction in weight. Routine management by clinicians should also include TB screening, prevention of TB infection and diagnosis. All these aspects will ensure that the patient is free from being infected with TB as it is a disease that reduces the life of those living with HIV. Opportunistic infections should also be determined and treatment made on the diseases. Conclusion and recommendation Staying health is a factor that is considered in management of the patients. In this aspect, management of the patients should include taking medication as directed. When medicine is not taken as directed, there is lowering the level of immunity that defends the body causing the level of virus in the body to go up (Elfstrand, 2010). Not taking risk is a management practice that should be considered in management. When there are other infections that occur in a person living with the infection, there should be no taking chances. The person should get tested and treated for the infections.t. HIV is spread through body fluids. The most common spread of the disease is through unprotected sex and through sharing sharp objects and other drug equipment (Elfstrand, 2010). Management should be done to patients to increase their span of life. References Elfstrand,. (2010). Management of chronic diarrhea in HIV-infected patients: current treatment options, challenges and future directions. HIV, 219. doi:10.2147/hiv.s13191 le R Booysen, F. (2003). Urban–rural inequalities in health care delivery in South Africa. Development Southern Africa, 20(5), 659-673. doi:10.1080/0376835032000149298 Miller, C., & Patel,. (2012). New option for management of HIV-1 infection in treatment-naive patients: once-daily, fixed-dose combination of rilpivirine-emtricitabine-tenofovir. HIV, 61. doi:10.2147/hiv.s25149 Payne, D. (2010). Living Confidently With HIV – A Self-Help Book for People Living With HIVLiving Confidently With HIV – A Self-Help Book for People Living With HIV. Nursing Standard, 24(49), 30-30. doi:10.7748/ns2010.08.24.49.30.b1094 Wnuk, A. (2008). Enfuvirtide – new clinical data of the management of HIV-infected patients. HIV & AIDS Review, 7(1), 10-16. doi:10.1016/s1730-1270(10)60060-4 Links: 1. http://www.researchgate.net/publication/271277389_Living_Confidently_With_HIV__A_Self-Help_Book_for_People_Living_With_HIVLiving_Confidently_With_HIV__A_Self-Help_Book_for_People_Living_With_HIV 2. http://www.researchgate.net/publication/227610878_Urban-rural_inequalities_in_health_care_delivery_in_South_Africa 3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22570576 4. https://www.infona.pl/resource/bwmeta1.element.elsevier-1af68fa6-6ba8-3ebe-ab92-67fd66a8dfb7 5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22096401 Read More