Nursing care of the client with AIDS

The client who has an immune deficiency manifests clinical symptoms that vary in severity and occur in multiple systems of the body. However what is known at the present time for the client with HIV infection is that the development of AIDS may occur from 18 months to more than 10 years after the initial infection. At the present time, AIDS is not curable; and is a disease that progressively worsens and ends in death from one or more of the complicating illnesses. Supportive care by the nurse is essential to assist the client to maintain maximum quality of life and a sense of self-esteem and self-efficacy. Since personal factors influence how rapidly a person's HIV-positive status progresses to AIDS, reducing re-exposure to HIV, optimizing nutritional status, avoiding pregnancy and stress are factors that the client should consider in optimizing quality of life.