[Survey of the attitude of primary care physicians towards AIDS]

A representative group of primary care physicians from Areas 4 and 5 of the Institut Català de la Salut were surveyed in orden to know their opinion about the spreading of HIV infection, the value of serological tests and the methods to prevent the infection of health care providers. More than half of the physicians (58.5%) had never been in contact with an HIV infected patient. Of the surveyed physicians, 47.2% believe that it is necessary to spread out more information on preventive measures amongst health professionals. 48.4% believe that confidentiality is important but only 16.9% consider it is important to obtain an informed consent to perform serological testing and another 22.5% mainly trust systematic serological testing. Primary care can play an important role avoiding the spread of HIV infection and, in fact, the importance of preventive measures and confidentiality are assumed by an elevated percentage of health professionals. The usefulness of serological testing, however, is not properly assessed valued and little importance is granted to the patient's consent for their performance.