Update on AIDS/HIV

Associated with the AIDS epidemic are some of the most difficult policy dilemmas society faces. The issues surrounding HIV are complex and involve legal, medical, ethical, and practice issues. In addition, many policy issues have received and will continue to receive attention--education, public health measures, health care delivery and financing issues, legal issues, state laws and regulations, labor and employment issues, and international concerns. The debate will most certainly continue to heat up. To contribute positively to the public policy debate, nurse practitioners must become knowledgeable about the disease--including its epidemiology--and examine their own practices, feelings, and attitudes regarding this deadly disease.