Physicians and AIDS: sexual risk assessment of patients and willingness to treat HIV-infected patients.

Abstract

This review of the literature has summarized two challenges presented to physicians as we move into the second decade of the AIDS epidemic: 1) the low proportions of physicians playing their role in assessing patients’ sexual risk for HIV infection and providing relevant risk reduction counseling and education, and 2) the reluctance of physicians to provide care to those with HIV disease due to homophobia, IVDU aversion, and fear of contagion. In view of the growing number of HIV-infected patients and patients living with AIDS, physicians and medical educators alike must confront these challenges.