Might sound crazy, but it ain't no lie, baby bye bye BYE!!!

Yay! It's almost time to end this semester, and for me, end my schooling!!! (At least until I decide if I want a masters...gulp). For the rest of the ladies that still have a few more semesters ahead of you, good luck! But for those of us about to graduate, woo hoooooo!
Ok, I'm trying to contain my excitement here. I'm going camping in two days, and I'm pretty excited about that as well! This has been a very productive semester for me and I'm ready to relax. So we are finally in the home stretch and I'm trying to keep it together at least through finals.

This week's QOTW was intriguing as the situation had happened to me many moons ago. I worked at a DME/homecare company and I had to pick up patients' sharps containers. One of the patients had thrown his needles in a red bag instead of the sharps container and it jabbed me in the leg. Very low risk of exposure, but the physician who gave us recommendations for our company suggested I go on PEP. I ended up taking AZT for a little over two months, not one month like the CDC recommends today. Luckily I wasn't infected, but the AZT didn't sit well with me either. I no longer work in high-risk situations, but I think about this if I ever get back into the clinical side of a physician's office.

Did You Know?

The ACLU AIDS Project issued an interesting report back in 2003 about HIV/AIDS discrimination, and how this affected the gay population. While 2003 seems like forever ago, and in many ways it is, it really is just a blip in our HIV history. After extensive research and interviews with ASO's and communities as a whole, it was determined that HIV discrimination was still alive and well, especially in the rural areas.

It was reported that in rural areas many people still thought you could get infected with HIV by casual contact. There was also a church in the Florida Panhandle that the congregation would ask HIV positive parishoners to leave the church. It was also still considered a "gay disease" in many of the rural areas. It got to the point that many didn't want to come out for fear of being banished from their own communities.

This was 2003, not the 80's!! It's hard to swallow that this kind of thinking was happening in America. Unfortunately, it still does. While each year the acceptance grows, there are still little nooks and crannies of unforgiveable discrimination within our own country. Now that we've taken this class, hopefully those that weren't aware about how HIV was transmitted can educate those that aren't aware. I have a special place in my heart for the gay community and I will use my knowledge about HIV disease to stand up for them and correct anyone that stands in the way of the truth. It is my hope that in my lifetime these nooks and crannies will all disappear...

www.aclu.org/FilesPDFs/HIVCivilrights.pdf

Medication Management

Graduation is almost here! Well, at least for some of us! I don't think I'm going to walk...it's on a Friday, and I'd much rather use a day off for the beach or camping than hanging out in a crowded arena for a few hours. I'm actually scheduled to work that day, but I think my boss will let me off early to blow off some steam...he's the one that paid for my education, after all!

With the M & M simulation come and gone, I must say I was surprised to see how many times I missed a dose and/or forgot a particular pill altogether. With working with HIV patients in the past, I never really felt their frustrations with keeping a strict medication schedule. I used to think it was easy. And this was before the invention of cellphones, which we could program to remind us! I would think, "just write it down!" I now see that it isn't that easy. Not to mention the dietary restrictions that go along with it. I am happy that I don't have to deal with something like that on a day to day basis, but it makes me feel bad for our patients and my friends that do.

Did You Know?

I really wanted to change my "Did You Know" title to "What the..." after reading this story. A basketball day camp in Rockland county was found guilty of discriminating against an HIV positive boy who wanted to attend their camp in 2004. The director of the camp denied the boy's admission due to his HIV status. According to the article, his status was disclosed by his mother during the admission process. The camp nurse had raised the question to the camp pediatrician on what the transmission risk would be. The Director in turn denied the boy admission.

There's a couple of statements here that make me want to smack my head against the desk a few times. The NURSE, whom I assume is a degreed nurse, asked the PEDIATRICIAN, whom I can only assume is a degreed and licensed physician, what the trasmission risk was, and between these two brainiacs they determined that the risk was sufficient enough to deny this boy admission. What nursing school/medical school did they attend? Are these medical professionals for real?

I often wonder what the medical community thinks when reading things like this. If a medical professional is stating there is a major risk, they could be spreading this kind of misinformation to the masses through the patients they treat. It's no wonder people are still roaming the United States thinking we can get AIDS from the toilet or a drinking fountain!

Would this boy be playing basketball with youths and have to have sex with them? No. Would this boy be playing basketball with youths and share dirty needles with them? Doubtful. It's justice that the camp was found guilty in violating state and federal discrimination laws, but what about the health practitioners in this case? Business as usual? It just makes me cringe.

www.thebody.com/content/legal/art55363.html