How patients´with HIV or AIDS experience treatment from healthcare personnel

Background: HIV and AIDS is a severe infectious disease. The first cases of AIDS were recorded amongst homosexual men in the United States. The disease has been found in more than 200 countries. There is a stigma surrounding the disease and patients are still being exposed to discrimination and indignity. Bad interactions between patients and healthcare personnel (HCP) caused concern and the patients avoided care to great extent. Aim: The aim was to increase the understanding of HIV and AIDS patients' experiences of the encounters with HCP in a medical context. Method: The method was grounded in analysis of qualitative research and was used to create an oversight of a specific phenomenon. Systematic searches in PubMed and Cinahl along with unsystematic searches resulted in 11 qualitative articles. The articles was analyzed and resulted in three main and six under themes. Results: The result indicated that the patients experienced both positive but mainly negative experiences. The experiences that was described was attributes among the HCP, actions in the meetings and feelings among the patients. The attitude towards the patients failed in healthcare situations and was uttered through discrimination and indignity. Confidentiality was breached and patients were denied care. Couclusion: The stigmatatism was widely figured in the healtcare system and had its core in the lack of knowledge about the disease. It is of fundamental importancy to increase the knowledge about the disease, for both HCP and the public