Study of knowledge of nurses working in university and Ministry of Health Hospital in Alexandria in relation to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

ABSTRACT

AIDS is the severe late stage of infection with human immunodeficiency virus which destroy body's immune system. Nurses have a major role in the education of HIV infected individuals, their families and the community. The aim of the study is to assess nurses knowledge about AIDS who are working in Alexandria University and Ministry of Health Hospitals. Ten percent of nurses working in these hospitals were randomly selected proportionately among different hospitals and departments. The results revealed that about half of the sample [n=258] considered AIDS as a significant health problem in Egypt. 73.64% of them knew that causative agent is a virus and 81.01% of them were aware of presence of carrier state. As regards mode of transmission more than 90% of nurses identified the proved modes of transmission of AIDS [sexual and parental]. However, large proportion of them [more than 56%] had misconceptions about mode of transmission. Only 41.47% of nurses could recognize the risk groups and only 42.64% were aware of the methods for prevention of AIDS. The main source of information for nurses was T.V. [in 63.57% of sample]