Responsibilities of Nurses in the Management of Admitted Patients with HIV and AIDS Related Illnesses

The purpose of the study was to determine the perceptions of patients and nurses in view of the responsibilities of nurses in the care of admitted patients with HIV and AIDS related illnesses. The nurses’ responsibilities in the management of admitted patients with HIV and AIDS related illnesses are varied and go beyond the administration of prescribed medications. An anti-positivist / interpretivist approach, which is a qualitative methodology, was adopted. The study, through its methods, sought to capture HIV and AIDS nursing care aspects in their entirety within the context of the patients and nurses who are experiencing them. Interpretive phenomenology was applied to explicitly describe the experience as lived by the participants. Convenience–purposive sampling was employed in the recruitment of nurses, and a simple random sampling technique was utilised in the recruitment of patients. Patients were included in the study on the basis of having been admitted for more than a day, conscious, and mentally stable. The participants shared their experiences when they were engaged through semi-structured interview schedules, focus group discussions and short essays. The details of the participants remained anonymous throughout the study to protect their identity. The dignity of all research participants in this study was respected and maintained, and their autonomy was ensured. The data generated were analysed through a series of steps of the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Framework (IPA). The first stage involved the transcription of data from interviews and focus group discussions verbatim. In the second stage preliminary themes were identified. The third stage involved grouping themes together as clusters. The final stage involved tabulating themes in a summary table. Six master themes emerged from the data, Establishment of constancy, Patient Empowerment, Infection control, Benevolence and need for patient safety and comfort. The nurses’ experiences and patients’ experiences helped generate master themes that address the issue of the nurses’ scope in the management of admitted patients with HIV and AIDS related illnesses. The themes include: Provision of constancy. Patient empowerment, Infection Control, Provision of comprehensive care. Extended enquiries in the area of patient empowerment and infection need to be conducted. These concepts have been deemed essential in the care of admitted patients with HIV and AIDS related illnesses. There is very scanty data with regards to these concepts in view of abilities of nurses to provide adequate care to admitted patients