Nursing dependency needs of HIV-infected patients, Part 1: Methods and clinical findings

The adequacy with which nurses address the needs of patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) depends upon their ability to recognize such needs. A 61-item Nurse/Patient Summary was completed on all patients by day shift nurses at a tertiary care center. The Nurse/Patient Summary encompasses the physical, functional, psychological, and social needs of patients as perceived by their nurses. Data were collected from 1987 to 1989. Findings indicate that the needs identified by the day shift nurses were congruent on the whole with the nursing literature on persons with HIV disease, although some identified needs were not adequately explored in the literature. This study does not address directly the question as to whether nurses in AIDS units might have identified more needs than their nonspecialty colleagues. Using the literature as a proxy, however, these findings indicate that nonspecialty nurses are able to identify the needs of persons with HIV disease. Thus, specialty units need not be predicated on the basis of a lack of nursing expertise in general units.