"Being dealt with as a whole person." Care seeking and adherence: the benefits of culturally competent care.

The purpose of this study is to characterize the relationship between identity and health care experiences (including antiretroviral therapy utilization) among HIV-positive sexual minority males. This qualitative study used grounded theory with data collection occurring through focus groups and interviews. A questionnaire was used to complete a demographic profile. The study included 47 HIV positive participants from three minorities: gay men, bisexual men and transgendered persons, gender identifying as female and or living as women. Sessions elicited information on: (1) general experiences with health care, (2) experiences with HIV antiretroviral therapies and issues surrounding access, and (3) adherence to these therapies and identity in relation to health care. These textual data revealed three themes: (1) the importance of sexual identity and its social and cultural context, (2) the differences in the health concerns between the sexual minorities and (3) a wide spectrum of experiences with the health care system that provide information surrounding the access to and adequacy of health care. Successful health care providers are aware of different issues that may play a role in the provision of health care to these sexual minorities. Providers awareness of sexual and social identity and the related different cultural values, beliefs and custom enhance care seeking and therapeutic adherence. For sexual minorities, primary care remains the most important entry point into the health care system. Cultural competence of care providers can foster patient's care seeking and adherence to treatment.

Teaching about HIV/AIDS: the lessons learned.

To learn and teach about HIV/AIDS is to enter complex and sensitive territory that at times may be personally challenging. In the vast literature on HIV infection and nursing two main themes recur: nurses' lack of understanding, negative attitudes and anxieties related to HIV/AIDS and the need for education to change such attitudes and enhance nurses' knowledge and skills.

Heterogeneity of care for HIV-infected individuals decreases with the physician knowledge.

In order to gain an understanding of the determinants of clinical management of HIV disease in adults just prior to the introduction of comprehensive guidelines, we undertook the present study among members of the British Columbia Persons with AIDS Society (BCPWA). The aim of this study was to examine whether the heterogeneity of care for HIV-infected individuals decreases with physician knowledge of HIV/AIDS and the stability of the physician-patient relationship. Eligible participants had to be full members (i.e. HIV positive) of the society, residents of British Columbia, and had to have previously agreed for the BCPWA society to include unsolicited material with their monthly newsletter. Our analysis demonstrates that compliance with appropriate care was associated with a more stable physician-patient relationship and with the perception on the patient's part of a greater level of knowledge on the part of their physician.

Access to health care and geographic mobility of HIV/AIDS patients.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the patterns and determinants of mobility in persons with HIV infection or AIDS on a population basis. DESIGN: Descriptive cross-sectional population health study. TARGET POPULATION: 650 full members (i.e., HIV-positive) of the Vancouver Persons with AIDS Society who were residents of British Columbia and who allow the society to include unsolicited material with their monthly newsletter. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Migration history, access to HIV-related care at diagnosis, current and pre-HIV sociodemographic characteristics, and current health status. RESULTS: Two hundred and fifty-two persons living with HIV/AIDS participated in the study. At the time of the survey, the majority of subjects were male (94 percent), aged between 30 and 54 years (87 percent), and able to carry out daily activities without assistance (84 percent). The median time since the known date of HIV infection was 6 years. Access to care at diagnosis was associated in this population with being diagnosed in the largest metropolitan area in the province (OR = 2.14; 95 percent CI: 1.18, 3.87), a pre-HIV income of $30,000 or more per annum (OR = 0.49; 95 percent CI: 0.27, 0.89), a known date of diagnosis prior to 1990 (78 percent versus 64 percent; p = 0.019), and living in the same residence from the date of known HIV diagnosis to the date of the survey (63 percent versus 51 percent; p = 0.024). CONCLUSION: Although no definitive causal association can be provided by this cross-sectional analysis, our results clearly highlight several ways in which the need for treatment and care potentially affect where persons with HIV/AIDS choose to live.

Patterns of care in advanced HIV disease in a tertiary treatment centre.

A retrospective chart review of all in-patient deaths in 1992 was undertaken to examine patterns of care in advanced HIV disease at St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada. St Paul's Hospital cares for approximately 75% of the Province of British Columbia's AIDS caseload. This represents about 18% of Canada's caseload. Data were collected on demographic characteristics, the utilization of home care and community services, income and social support, symptom presentation at terminal admission and the utilization of acute hospital care and hospital based palliative care. A total of 126 deaths were reviewed. All but two subjects were homosexual/bisexual men. The median age at death was 39 years (range 24-67). Four patterns of care at death were identified: (1) aggressive therapy with resuscitation 24 (19%), (resuscitation was initiated in 58%); (2) aggressive therapy with a no resuscitation order 49 (39%), in which the palliative period was a median of three days; (3) death on the palliative care unit 33 (29%), with a median survival once palliative of 20 days; and (4) death on the palliative care unit following respite admissions 16 (13%), with a median survival once palliative of 64 days. Despite a well known and respected Palliative Care Unit and community palliative care programme, there is a marked trend towards death occurring during aggressive therapy with a 200% increase in the initiation of resuscitation compared to the previous three years. No-one has been discharged alive from hospital following the initiation of resuscitation since 1988. This study illustrates the need for providers and persons infected with HIV to reconsider expectations about treatment outcomes in advanced HIV disease.

Impact of HIV infection and AIDS on death rates in British Columbia and Canada.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of HIV infection and AIDS on death rates in British Columbia and Canada. DESIGN: Descriptive, population-based study. SETTING: British Columbia and Canada. PATIENTS: All people for whom HIV infection or AIDS was listed as the underlying cause of death in Canada and all provinces from 1987 to 1991, as reported to Statistics Canada, and all people for whom HIV infection or AIDS was listed as the underlying or antecedent cause of death in British Columbia and Vancouver from 1987 to 1992, as reported to the Division of Vital Statistics, British Columbia Ministry of Health. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Age- and cause-specific patterns of death, and potential years of life lost (PYLLs) for men. RESULTS: From 1987 to 1991 a total of 4189 deaths from HIV infection and AIDS (in 3941 males and 248 females) in Canada and 686 such deaths (in 671 males and 15 females) in British Columbia were reported to Statistics Canada. The rate of death from HIV infection and AIDS was 1.39 times higher (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.29 to 1.50) in British Columbia than in Canada as a whole and 1.95 times higher (95% CI 1.65 to 2.29) when HIV infection was associated with specified malignant neoplasms than with other related causes. The PYLLs from HIV infection and AIDS for men rose steadily in Canada, from 17,615 in 1987 to 38,735 in 1991; the latter is comparable to the PYLLs from stroke and colorectal cancer. In Vancouver the PYLLs from HIV infection and AIDS for men increased sharply from 1987 to 1992, surpassing the PYLLs from heart disease, malignant neoplasms and accidents. CONCLUSIONS: From 1987 to 1991 the rate of death from HIV infection and AIDS in British Columbia was higher than the national average. In Vancouver HIV infection and AIDS have become the leading causes of premature death in men, exceeding heart disease, malignant neoplasms and accidents.

Trends in hospital utilization in AIDS care 1987-1991: implications for palliative care.

St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver has the largest Canadian experience of the care of persons with HIV/AIDS. This article reviews St. Paul's experience during the period 1987-1991, with particular emphasis on issues in palliative AIDS care. These issues include the implications of prolonged palliative care at home, precipitous readmissions to hospital for terminal care, and long-stay terminal admissions. Aspects of treatment and social factors which have an impact on palliative AIDS care are also identified. The implications for program development in both community and institutional settings are discussed.