Educating podiatric medical assistants about AIDS and HIV infection

In order to assess the need for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome education among podiatric assistants, comprehensive questionnaires on human immunodeficiency virus infection were distributed in February and March 1989. The findings presented here are based upon questionnaires completed and returned by 300 assistants. The purpose of the needs assessment was three-fold: to find out how much the surveyed assistants know about AIDS and HIV infection, how they feel about working with HIV-infected patients, and to what extent they understand and follow recommended infection control practices. The results of the survey reveal that many of the assistants in the sample in this study are ill-informed about HIV infection, that they have numerous concerns and fears about working with HIV-infected patients, and that they are not following recommended infection control guidelines.