H.I.V. contact survey

Press, 21 October 1989, Page 8

H.I.V. contact survey

By

DEBORAH McPHERSON

Most New Zealand doctors in general practice have now had some contact with patients concerning A.I.D.S. or H.1.V.related infection, according to a survey by a Christchurch community health specialist.

A senior lecturer in community health at the Christchurch School of Medicine, Dr Jane Chetwynd, asked about 1000 general practitioners to take part in a postal survey last year. About 86 per cent replied, and of those 95 per cent had had some contact with patients concerning A.I.D.S. or. H.I.V. infection, and 86 per cent had had at least one request for the H.I.V. antibody test.

Dr Chetwynd’s findings were published in the August 23 issue of the “New Zealand Medical Journal.” She found that the 95 per cent contact rate between general practitioners and patients concerning A.I.D.S was not confined to main centres but was spread throughout New Zealand. It was clear that a small proportion of doctors were seeing relatively large numbers of patients about A.1.D.5.-re-lated matters. For these doctors, concern about H.I.V. infection was becoming a fairly common condition presented to them.

Dr Chetwynd said general practitioners bore much of the responsibility for the future manage-

ment of A.I.D.Srelated problems. Doctors were caring not only for those who might have H.I.V. infection, but also for the “worried well” whose anxiety about the illness has caused them to seek help, she said.

The study found that only 3 per cent of general practitioners referred patients to a specialist A.I.D.S. or S.T.D. clinic, while 84 per cent referred none. Referral was more common in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, and was more common among women doctors than men.

Nearly all the doctors contacted in the survey said they would welcome continuing education on A.I.D.S.