Efforts made by a dialysis clinic to accept HIV-infected patients

Abstract

Although the prognosis of patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has improved markedly due to advances in treatment, the number of HIV-infected patients that require dialysis is rising due to aging and the increasing prevalence of complications. Therefore, there is an urgent need for hemodialysis clinics to accept HIV-infected patients. However, many dialysis facilities are reluctant to accept such patients, mainly due to anxiety caused by a lack of understanding about HIV infections. We established a special measures team, which implemented active study sessions for our staff regarding the acceptance of HIV-infected patients. A pre-study survey of the dialysis staff revealed that 85.2% of them agreed with the following statement: “I feel anxious about contact with HIV-positive dialysis patients”, and 25.9% of them responded, “We should not accept patients who are HIV-positive”. However, these rates decreased to 48.1% and 7.4%, respectively, after the study sessions. Educating staff about HIV infections is an important way for hemodialysis clinics to increase their acceptance of HIV-infected patients.