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Hi, I am looking to start a PTA program, but I have always had an intense fear of HIV infection. I don't really have a blood phobia rather I have an HIV phobia. I have always wanted to work in health care, but I have fear of HIV so I ruled out nursing where needles would be involved. My question is what sort of activities would a PTA be exposed to blood or bodily fluids? Can anyone ease my irrational fears regarding HIV infection? I have a BS in accounting but could not find a job, and I do not want to pursue my MS in accounting. I want to work in a field that I actually care about rather than continue in something I hate. Any comments are appreciated.
My question is what sort of activities would a PTA be exposed to blood or bodily fluids?
It's scary that you have already honed in on this as a profession and yet you don't already know the answer to this question. I really think you need to do some research and understand what a PTA does on a day-to-day basis.
Aside from that, whether or not you are actually exposed to HIV during the course of the job, your attitude about it could be a problem. Even a stray comment mentioned in the staff area, about your fear of HIV could be construed as discriminatory toward that demographic of patients. Even if it doesn't venture into the territory of violating patients' rights, most employers in healthcare professions really strive to create welcoming and compassionate environments for their patients and your sentiments do not support that.
I think you should have a frank chat with an admissions counselor about this issue before you go any further.
Hi, I am looking to start a PTA program, but I have always had an intense fear of HIV infection. I don't really have a blood phobia rather I have an HIV phobia. I have always wanted to work in health care, but I have fear of HIV so I ruled out nursing where needles would be involved. My question is what sort of activities would a PTA be exposed to blood or bodily fluids? Can anyone ease my irrational fears regarding HIV infection? I have a BS in accounting but could not find a job, and I do not want to pursue my MS in accounting. I want to work in a field that I actually care about rather than continue in something I hate. Any comments are appreciated.
You need to find something else besides the medical field. Just an FYI, it would be highly unlikely a PTA would be coming in contact with body fluids.
But you should know that basic information already.
Geez, are you familiar with MRSA? I would worry more about that as several in the health care field are exposed and carry it.
No need to be condescending... There is no chance I am going to stick to accounting because I hate it. I have a strong desire to work with people, but I have also harbored an irrational phobia of HIV. As to not knowing what physical therapists do, I asked a question regarding their contact with bodily fluids because I have read that they may come into contact with bodily fluids through a quick google search and I was curious how this was possible. I'm curious how I have "no idea" what a physical therapist does because I asked this question.
Whether you consider it condescending or not, it's the truth. Regardless of what your intended occupation is, you need to understand what kinds of studying and training are involved, and what kind of tasks the job requires. Learning this means more than googling. You need to talk to professionals in that occupation, read books on the library, maybe the OOH, and talk to admissions advisors.
If you can't find out such basic information as this on your own, I fail to see how you could possibly succeed in the occupation. This is true regardless of what occupation is being considered.
Whether you consider it condescending or not, it's the truth. Regardless of what your intended occupation is, you need to understand what kinds of studying and training are involved, and what kind of tasks the job requires. Learning this means more than googling. You need to talk to professionals in that occupation, read books on the library, maybe the OOH, and talk to admissions advisors.
If you can't find out such basic information as this on your own, I fail to see how you could possibly succeed in the occupation. This is true regardless of what occupation is being considered.
I am exploring this as a possible career choice.. I have not set it in stone. I am in the process of gathering information so your suggestion for me to understand and learn what my intended occupation is redundant. Your response to my question implies that I have already completely made up my mind regarding pursuing becoming a PTA. I would like to pursue a field in health care where I am not exposed to bodily fluids and I ran across a thread like the one below.
Therefore, I decided to ask how it is possible and what sort of situations would a PTA may be exposed to blood and other bodily fluids. You and the subsequent posts below you imply that I have completely made up my mind about becoming a PTA and I was going into the program with zero knowledge about what they do. Yes, it is condescending.
I am exploring this as a possible career choice.. I have not set it in stone. I am in the process of gathering information so your suggestion for me to understand and learn what my intended occupation is redundant. Your response to my question implies that I have already completely made up my mind regarding pursuing becoming a PTA. I would like to pursue a field in health care where I am not exposed to bodily fluids and I ran across a thread like the one below.
Therefore, I decided to ask how it is possible and what sort of situations would a PTA may be exposed to blood and other bodily fluids. You and the subsequent posts below you imply that I have completely made up my mind about becoming a PTA and I was going into the program with zero knowledge about what they do. Yes, it is condescending.
The response to that question on that forum very clearly spells out where the risk occurs and why. If you still don't grasp what they mean I fail to see how anyone else is going to explain it to you.
The bodily fluids can be any number of things: blood, urine, feces, sweat, saliva, mucus come to mind. A PTA could come into contact with any of these, probably the most common would be sweat.
With the exception of sweat contact, healthcare professionals wear gloves to minimize contact to the above bodily fluids plus wash their hands frequently.
Please find out the following information: exactly what a Physical Therapist Assistant does and how HIV is transmitted.
The response to that question on that forum very clearly spells out where the risk occurs and why. If you still don't grasp what they mean I fail to see how anyone else is going to explain it to you.
Yes, the vague response of students being required to complete an acute care rotation in a hospital clearly describes in detail how often and in what situations a PTA may run across bodily fluids and blood in their career. Does it make sense to you that people may want to hear what other people have to say regarding a question they have? In this case, me wanting to hear what other people say about exposure to bodily fluids as a PTA besides what I have read from the source data. I honestly don't think my original question is outrageous like you tried to make it out to be.
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Does it make sense to you that people may want to hear what other people have to say regarding a question they have? In this case, me wanting to hear what other people say about exposure to bodily fluids as a PTA besides what I have read from the source data. I honestly don't think my original question is outrageous like you tried to make it out to be.
