Caring for the patient with AIDS. An integrated approach.

Caring for patients with AIDS poses new and serious challenges for the medical care system, particularly the hospital. Stresses associated with the care of AIDS patients are generated by the medical complexities of the disease, by the stigma attached to the disease and the patients affected, and by the often overwhelming psychosocial support requirements. These stresses and concerns about the cost of AIDS care have contributed to apprehension about AIDS involvement on the part of many in the health care system. This paper addresses these concerns from the perspective of San Francisco General Hospital, which has developed what many consider to be a model of care in which comprehensive medical management is combined with cost effectiveness in a setting where much of the care is conducted in an outpatient and community-based setting.