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Nurse with Doctors Not Lose

Kompas.com - The ability of a nurse in the provision of medication therapy in AIDS patients was not inferior to the doctor. It is certainly very useful, especially in conditions of shortage of doctors.

The study, titled "task shifting" in the maintenance of HIV in South Africa showed, there is virtually no difference in outcome in AIDS patients who take medication under the supervision of nurses or doctors.

World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there are currently 33 million people worldwide infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Meanwhile, half of the total 9.5 million people who need AIDS drugs can not get it.

Currently, the problem is the lack of health personnel. Therefore WHO has recently proposed a "shift the task" of physicians in other health personnel.

To see whether it might be applied, a team of researchers from international research center for AIDS in South Africa conducted a study to compare treatment effects by doctors with nurses.

Unknown 48 percent of patients who received nurse's supervision of experienced errors. The amount is only slightly below the mistakes made by doctors, namely 44 percent. After two years, mortality rates and adverse effects of drugs from two groups of health workers was no different.