Rights and responsibilities

People with HIV have certain protections of confidentiality and against discrimination under the law. Equally, they have certain responsibilities as well. Explore the question mark on each side of the scales in the activity below to find out more about these rights and responsibilities.

Legal employment restrictions in health care

Today, people living with HIV fill jobs in all sectors and in all types of workplaces, including nursing and health care.

HIV-positive health care workers

Provided appropriate infection control procedures are followed, the risk of an HIV infected health care worker passing on HIV to a patient or client during most procedures is low. In fact, a recent estimate of the risk– even during an exposure prone procedure – is about one in five million – about the same as being struck and killed by lightning! (Department of Health, 2011).

Health care workers with HIV infection are able to work in most jobs and perform most tasks. Some medical procedures, however, are considered to pose a higher risk of HIV transmission to a patient or client; for these roles some employment restrictions are in place. Currently, the Department of Health restricts health care workers with HIV from undertaking jobs that involve exposure-prone procedures (EPPs). An EPP is any invasive procedure where there is a risk that injury to the health care worker could result in the exposure of the patient’s open tissue to the blood of the worker (called bleedback). EPPs are defined by the Department of Health as:

"Procedures where the health care worker’s gloved hands may be in contact with sharp instruments, needle tips or sharp tissues inside the patient’s open body cavity, wound or confined anatomical space where the fingertips may not be completely visible at all times" (Department of Health, 2005).

EPPs generally occur in surgery, obstetrics, and specialist nursing, such as operating theatre nursing. If routine infection control procedures are followed meticulously, the following procedures are not considered as EPPS:

• Procedures where the health care worker’s hands and fingertips are visible and outside of the patients body at all times.
• Internal examinations or procedures that don’t involve possible injury to the health care worker’s gloved hands.

Examples of these types of procedures include taking blood, setting up and maintaining IV lines, and minor surface suturing.

Most health care jobs don’t involve EPPs, so if you are a nurse, nursing student, health care assistant, or other health care worker with HIV, most jobs within health care are still available to you. The government is currently reviewing its policy regarding HIV health care workers and EPP; if relevant to you or your role, your employer will inform you of any change.