elearn Course Catalog

HIV/AIDS: The Impact on Persons Age 50+

The New York State Nurses Association is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

This course has been awarded 1.2 contact hours.

Course Introduction

Imagine for a moment that you are a nurse who floats, working today in an HIV clinic where you have not worked before. Your responsibilities include triage, taking vital signs, and escorting the patient to an exam room. The morning has gone along as expected, and now there are only two patients left. When you reach the chart rack you notice that the next chart is damaged and only the last name and social security number is visible. You wonder why things are never easy, but you grab the chart and go into the waiting room. Before calling out the person’s name you quickly survey the room. To the left is a young woman with two small children and a baby. You assume she is the mother because she looks exhausted. The children are busy and she is trying to keep them quiet. The baby is crying. Slightly to the right is a large man with long hair and tattoos on every bit of exposed skin. He is wearing a lot of leather with chains as accessories. He has a beard. The only other person in the room is a small elderly woman who is neatly dressed and knitting. Her hair is pulled back into a tight knot at the nape of her neck. She looks familiar at first, maybe like your second grade teacher, or the woman at the library or…maybe the elderly woman who sat next to you in church last week. You subconsciously decide that she is one of the volunteer drivers who bring people to their clinic appointments. She smiles when you come into the room.

“Madison,” you call out. To your surprise it is the elderly woman who stands and follows you into the triage room.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, the learner will be able to:

State the incidence and most common route of exposure of HIV/AIDS in the 50+ age group.
Discuss factors that contribute to the incidence of HIV/AIDS in the elderly.
Describe common symptoms of HIV/AIDS that are missed and/or attributed instead to aging.
Discuss mental status changes from AIDS dementia complex.
Identify questions that can be asked during a health/sexual history that facilitate the identification of risk factors for HIV/AIDS.
Discuss antiretroviral therapy in the elderly.

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