AIDS: family physicians' attitudes and experiences.

A study was developed to examine the current experiences and opinions of a national sample of family physicians with regard to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The survey response rate was 72.5% (757 questionnaires were returned out of a sample of 1044). Approximately 47% of respondents have cared for an HIV-infected patients. This percentage varied from a low of 31.4% in the Midwest to as high as 56.1% on the East Coast. Thirty-two percent of family physicians practicing in communities of fewer than 2500 have dealt with this illness, while 60% of those in communities of greater than 100,000 have done so. Seventy-seven percent of respondents are willing to provide care to HIV-infected individuals; 62.9% believe that physicians have a right to refuse to care for a patient because he or she is infected with the AIDS virus. Forty percent believe that they would lose patients if it were known that they were caring for an AIDS patient in their office. Finally, the vast majority of those surveyed favor required partner notification and would inform the sexual partner of an HIV-positive patient if the patient refused to do so.