Healthcare workers are usually on the frontline of any outbreak or disaster. From Ebola to the flu virus, healthcare workers risk their own health and safety to care for their patients.
Healthcare workers are also susceptible to contracting the HIV virus. If they do contract this disease, there is a negative stigma associated with it — many of these individuals then face fear and discrimination in the workplace.
The Potential Risk of Contracting HIV
Despite the fact that there are a number of precautions in place, healthcare workers still face the risk of contracting HIV through occupational contact with patients. However, what was already a relatively low number has further plummeted in recent years. And no confirmed cases of HIV transmission have occurred since 1999. This is due to the adoption of a number of precautions, including using barriers such as googles and gloves, immediately washing hands and carefully disposing of sharp instruments.
The low numbers of healthcare workers who contract HIV is also due in part to the amount of research that has been conducted to better understand how to treat HIV. In addition to treatment methods, this research has helped to develop prevention protocols for the spread of the disease.
Further, although healthcare workers face a higher risk than the general population, HIV training courses that teach prevention and educational strategies for patients have diminished the rate of infection.
The Stigma Associated With HIV in Healthcare Workers
There is still a stigma however, associated with workers who have HIV and are working in the healthcare system. One recent John Doe case documents how an individual attempted to find a job sitting with patients in a medical facility and was refused employment due to the individual’s infection with the disease.
“People have been worried about their place of employment finding out that they’re positive because people are fired, people are not hired, people are stigmatized in the workplace, their status is shared inappropriately,” according to Barb Cardell, an HIV patient who lost her job due to the disease.
Sadly, cases like these are quite common.
How to Deal With the Stigma
Eliminating these stigmas from the workplace is an essential first step in creating an environment of inclusion for all healthcare workers. The National Health Service (NHS) in Britain estimates that close to 110 of its workers are HIV positive. The organization used to impose restrictions on the type of work these individuals could perform.
Because the risk of contracting HIV is virtually impossible, though, the NHS changed its guidelines. It now allows HIV positive staff members to work in the health service areas they prefer.
Practices like the one put in place by the NHS is a start to eliminating the fear and discrimination that dominates the healthcare environment for HIV positive workers. As these workers are accepted to participate in tasks they were once barred from, acceptance will likely permeate the rest of the healthcare workforce.
All healthcare workers are important to the industry, but HIV positive healthcare workers suffer fear of losing their job and considerable discrimination in the work environment. However, by allowing these workers to handle tasks that are not limited by their disease is an important first step to fostering acceptance. Then, the levels of discrimination and fear among the HIV positive workers can be diminished.