University Daily Kansan / Thursday, May 4, 1989
2019
19
Medical employees react to AIDS, alter workplace
by Jennifer Corser Kansan staff writer
When John Hay took his dental board examination in 1987, he had to use a pen that could be sterilized in the cabinet it while he was with the patient.
The fear of AIDS has changed the attitude and workplace of the health care professional.
Although many health care professionals say caution and protection should have been used years before AIDS became a common disease, the
AIDS scare has made them more cautious about catching any contagious disease.
good disease.
"It's too bad it had to come from a phobia of a virus," Hay said.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires sterilization of anything thrown in the garbage from a dental office that has blood or tissue on it. Hay said.
p. 22, col. 3
See related story
Photo illustration by H.J. Giostra and Cheryl Hanley/Special to the KANSAN
Gloves, goggles, face masks, plastic clothing and booties are used in some situations when working with AIDS patients.
Among health care professionals, dentists are in a low-risk group for catching AIDS, he said. But they don't want to take chances. They use gloves and even a mask when using a drill, a tool that often sprays saliva.
Needles must be put in a punctureproof container.
Hay said he used to rebel against the use of gloves because he thought they would interfere with his work. He has since changed his mind.
"It doesn't really interfere with your ability to practice," he said. "It just takes some getting used to."
Business is booming for companies that make rubber gloves and disposable dental equipment. Mint- and berry-flavored gloves are available because children complained about the taste of the rubber gloves when dentists worked inside their mouths, Hay said. And because dentists often touched the moveable lamp, disposable lamp handles, which are changed between patients, also are available.
Hay said he put a piece of sterilized foil over the lamp handle rather than buying the disposable handles. But he did cap his needles so they wouldn't puncture his gloves if he accidentally bumped the instrument tray.
The extra money health care professionals must pay to properly protect themselves and patients from contractible diseases will eventually cost the consumer, he said Hay said. The cost of protecting City area who listed the protective items he used and charged the patients an extra $4 for them.
"Whether you itemize it or not, the cost is passed on to the person receiving the health care," he said.
The cost to the average patient receiving health care is small in comparison with the cost to an actual AIDS patient. Donald Marquis, associate professor of philosophy, said he concerns in media ethics are concerned about how AIDS patients, many of whom are poor, would finance their large hospital bills. The answer still is not clear. Marquis said.
"It's a problem in cities like New York," he said. "How are we going to finance it? Are we going to let people die in the streets?"
Medical confidentiality is another question facing the health-care profession, he said. Should a doctor tell the health department about a known AIDS patient to protect the community?
"But the great fear is that unless you have confidentiality, AIDS patients won't come see a doctor." Marquis said.
And then there is the issue of a patient's right to privacy vs. public health, he said. Many think that private decisions should not be regulated. However, the San Francisco homosexual bathhouses could be a danger to public health, according to Marquis. The question is whether they should be forced to close, he said.
Use of devices to protect health care workers from AIDS and other contagious diseases now permeates all areas of health care. The University of Kansas Medical Center urges all employees dealing with patients in the hospital to cover, said Marcia Gilliland, infection control coordinator.
"That's their individual decision," she said. "We can't force them."
An AIDS patient knows if a nurse or doctor is scared or is not giving that person the correct amount or quality of care, Gilliand said. It is important for a health care professional to work through his or her fears. When these feelings are overcome, most health care professionals student about compassion and caring to the AIDS patients, she said.
Gilliam conducts workshops for students entering health-care professions. She has them participate in scenarios and exercises to encourage them to talk about feelings they normally didn't talk about. Then, when the time comes for them to talk about it, they will react - their heart rate may increase, or their palms become sweaty.
"It think it's a human reaction to be afraid." she said.
Because refusing to treat an AIDS patient is grounded for termination of employment at the Med Center, students must learn to deal with their
fears and emotions, she said.
Chien Liu, director of Infectious Diseases Division of Medicine, said the Med Center treated more AIDS patients than any other Kansas hospital in the top four for treating AIDS areas in the Kansas-Missouri area.
Bill Owens, Leawood third-year medical student, said students at the Med Center had to perform much of the blood drawing and the I.V. starting on patients. Because of this, students are more susceptible to infectious diseases than the higher-ranked physicians.
"We're a little bit more vulnerable than people think," Owens said.
Owens, who has drawn blood from an AIDS patient, said he did not look forward to dealing with AIDS patients but was not afraid, merely cautious. He said he wore gloves if he had to touch them for any reason.
Because of today's increased knowledge and education about AIDS, health care professionals are no longer as afraid of the disease as they were in the beginning. Gillandt said that the importance of using protection if they could have contact with a patient's bodily fluids.
Hay said that when he first began using gloves and other forms of protection, he got the feeling that people believed he thought they had AIDS. Sometimes they would joke with him about it, telling him not to worry, they didn't have the disease. Hay said he now thought that if he went a day without wearing the gloves, his patients would become concerned. They realize safety measures are mutually beneficial.
Despite the presence of gloves between the dentist's hand and the patient, there is still room for human contact. Hay said. A hand should be kept by the dentist to keep the patient from feeling alienated from the doctor or dentist.
"Human touch, I think, is essential to well-being." he said
Moses Gunn to receive Buddy award on Saturday for distinguished acting career
- Continued from p. 17
Hay said he did not know whether any of his patients actually were infected with the AIDS virus. But he does not fool himself into believing that none of them are. And regardless of whether he knew or not, he said he would never refuse to give them care.
University, said Marilyn Heath assistant to the acting chairman of the theatre and film department.
The play is about the two men who met in central Park. Nat tries to help Midge keep his job by making up a story that creates Nat as the head of a civil rights commission that will file suit against the housing commission if it fires Midge.
soil it if it livesudge. "He makes his fictive world part of the real world." Kuhke said.
Kuhike that Gum and the cast of five students had beer, wonderful to work with. The students play passersby in the park.
"Working with Moses has been delicious," Kuhlke said. "We're
peers, both pushing 60, so we both have a stake in this particular plot."
Gunn is also teaching a special topics class in American Theatre. Randy Kort, Overland Park sophomore, who is in the play with Ginn, said this has been the best play at KU that he's been involved in.
"Gunn said at our first rehearsal.
"There aren't any professionals or amateurs. There is just a script." Kort said, "he's great of stage. You talk to him, and he'll tell you stories."
Gleen Pierce, acting chairman of the theatre and film department and director of the play, said some of the lines in the play were revealing about
human nature
"In one line, Nat said, 'People don't like to look at old people. When they look at those old people, they're seeing previews of coming pieces.' Pierce said, 'It really makes people uncomfortable with themselves.'
Pierce said for theater students, the experience was valuable for their careers.
"It encourages students that they can go on to work in theater or motion pictures," Pereira said. "They can have a role and can have a career like anyone else."
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