AIDS Update

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

Chapter 1: Human Immunodeficiency Virus

1. Describe the genetic makeup of human immunodeficiency virus and explain the mode of transmission of HIV infection.
2. List 3 primary types of contact that can result in transmission of HIV, and distinguish these from other less efficient modes of transmission of HIV.
3. Explain why casual contact will not result in transmission of HIV infection.

Chapter 2: HIV Terms to Know

4. Define various terms related to HIV and AIDS, such as AIDS, body fluids, CD4 cells, exposure-prone invasive procedures, universal precautions, window period, etc.

Chapter 3: Understanding HIV

5. Discuss some of the questions that a person infected with HIV may want to ask his or her healthcare provider.
6. Discuss possible benefits and risks of talking about your HIV infection.
7. List at least 6 helpful hints that may help an HIV-infected person stay well longer.
8. Discuss the connection between HIV and tuberculosis, syphilis, mouth and eye problems, pap tests for women with HIV, and pregnancy.
9. Discuss the implications of pregnancy with an HIV-infected woman, and formulate at least 7 questions that the woman may want to ask of her healthcare provider.

Chapter 4 : Epidemiology of HIV Infection

10. Describe the risk of HIV infection in certain population groups, such as intravenous drug users, homosexuals, male and female heterosexual IDUs, women, and adolescents.
11. Explain why intravenous drug users with unsafe sexual practices are at greatest risk of HIV infection.

Chapter 5: Tests for HIV

12. Describe 3 primary tests for HIV infection detection, and explain the differences between the tests that measure the virus and those that measure the presence of antibodies to the virus in the blood.
13. List 5 physical conditions or symptoms that are indicative of HIV presence.

Chapter 6: Serologic Testing for Infection

14. Explain the sensitivity and specificity of EIA tests with Western blot for HIV infection.
15. Describe 5 principles of a patient testing program.

16. Provide an assessment of the risk of HIV infection from patients to healthcare workers and from healthcare workers to patients.

16. Discuss the management of infected healthcare workers.

Chapter 7: From HIV to AIDS

18. Explain how HIV infection progresses to AIDS, and describe physical symptoms and responses at each stage to the development of AIDS.
19. List at least 10 infections indicative of AIDS, and list 8 cancers associated with AIDS.

Chapter 8: New Ways to Prevent and Treat AIDS

20. Describe various new tests for detection of HIV approved by the FDA, namely Confide, Orasure Western blot, Coulter and Amplicor-HIV-1 Monitor Test.
21. Describe five layers of overlapping safeguards that have made the risk of HIV transmission from blood transfusion almost nil.

Chapter 9: Update on AIDS

22. Discuss the role of combination drug therapy in reducing AIDS-related deaths.
23. Describe how protease inhibitors work.
24. Discuss how viral load test can help in predicting the course of AIDS disease.
25. Describe the progress made by researchers in developing a vaccine for AIDS.
26. List some of the new drugs that are being developed to fight AIDS.

Chapter 10: Universal Precautions

27. Define universal precautions and describe six measures a healthcare worker should take in following universal precautions.
28. List body fluids to which universal precautions apply and other fluids to which universal precautions do not apply.
29. Discuss three guidelines that a healthcare worker should use with protective barriers to prevent the transmission of HIV.
30. Describe five guidelines to use in the selection of gloves.
31. Describe five precautions to take for invasive procedures.
32. Describe four precautions for people engaged in the practice of dentistry for prevention of transmission of HIV.
33. Discuss precautions to take for healthcare workers in the areas of dialysis and those working in laboratories.

Chapter 11: Environmental Considerations for HIV Transmission

34. Discuss the principles for sterilization and disinfections in healthcare settings.

Chapter 12: Employer Responsibilities

35. Describe the classification of work activities into three categories of potential exposure and the requirement of personal protective equipment in each category of work.
36. Provide examples of recommended personal protective equipment for worker protection against HIV and HBV transmission in pre-hospital settings.
37. Discuss the management of healthcare workers who have been exposed to blood and other infectious body fluids, hepatitis B virus, human bites, and HIV.
38. Describe reprocessing methods for equipment used in the pre-hospital setting using sterilization and various levels of disinfection.