counsling of aids patients
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Counseling patients who face these issues can be difficult, but a careful risk assessment along with patient education can improve a patient’s ability to cope and lead to better outcomes, said Marshall Forstein, MD, associate professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass, in a presentation at the US Psychiatric Congress in Las Vegas. On the basis of his extensive experience in treating patients with HIV/AIDS, he said it is also important to provide hope and to encourage treatment adherence.
When conducting a thorough risk assessment, Forstein emphasized the importance of asking all patients about their specific sexual behaviors. This opens the door for candid discussions about HIV prevention and nonoccupational exposure prophylaxis. “It is important to know what these behaviors are so we can try to help patients keep themselves out of harm’s way,” he said. It is critical to discuss the behavior through which the patient contracted HIV. This not only helps the patient come to terms with his or her disease, but it also forces him to consider the manner and risk of secondary transmission. “The issue is how to discuss sexual or drug use behavior with patients without seeming condescending or judgmental,” Forstein said.
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