Jyotika Vazirani
HIV Research Nurse
Veterans' Administration Medical Center
Jyotika Vazirani did not follow an obvious path to her position as an HIV research nurse. She graduated from Bates College in 1991 with a major in rhetoric and no career plan. Vazirani was taken with the notion of tending to plants and growing things. So she worked as a farmer's apprentice in rural Maine, planting vegetables, feeding animals and riding a tractor. One summer day, Vazirani thought she had been bitten by a tick and visited the local health clinic for care. It turned out she had only an ordinary bug bite, but that didn't stop her from spending most of the day with the nurse practictioners there. "They were funny ... really wise women," she says. Nursing School
The experience inspired Vazirani to enroll in nursing school at Howard University, near her hometown of Silver Spring. She took a course on caring for HIV patients and realized AIDS was turning into an epidemic, killing many people in her generation. She saw the virus as a compelling career challenge. "It hits every system -- neurological, skin, the muscular skeletal system. If you treat HIV patients, you'll be treating the entire body," Vazirani says. After graduation, Vazirani worked as a charge nurse at a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases (STD). In 1997, she completed a research certification program at the Georgetown University School of Nursing and became AIDS certified the same year. Working With HIV Patients
Vazirani sees about 70 HIV patients in her current role as a research nurse and study coordinator for the infectious disease department at the Veterans' Administration Medical Center. She recruits and follows patients for clinical studies, observing how different regimens of medications affect patients' health and quality of life. She spends three days a week in the clinic, seeing patients in the morning. It's very detail oriented. I try to have patients express what's happened from visit to visit," Vazirani says. The data she collects is pooled together with information from other patients, and is used collaboratively by a team of doctors, scientists, and statisticians to help implement the scientific protocol of national and international studies on HIV treatment. | 
" If you treat HIV patients, you'll be treating the entire body. It hits every system." -- Jyoticka Vazirani
Photo: VA Medical Center Job Safety
Vazirani draws patients' blood, testing it for a variety of factors, including viral load, lipids, insulin and immune-system strength. She also records the number of red and white blood cells. She feels confident about her ability to manage the risk of working with blood samples containing HIV. Everyone on her team follows strict federal guidelines on handling blood. "My patients are very protective of me. They say, 'You're going to put on gloves, aren't you?'" Managing Stress
Early in her nursing career, Vazirani spent about a year working as a charge nurse for an STD clinic with the Alexandria Health Department. She informed people of their blood test results, and then outlined their options for care if the tests came back positive for HIV. The work was stressful and challenging to manage. "The first year was really hard. I came from a very loving family. ... It was hard for me to realize that it was okay to have this abundant life," Vazirani says. "I was so overwhelmed by their [patients'] needs, I really didn't have my own life in perspective. It's good to feel passionate about your work, but [it's important to] hold onto that balance. I love my garden, I love being outside and running. I just try to keep it all in perspective, she says." She has learned the hard way that talking about her work can be a real conversation stopper at cocktail parties, but she does talk to friends and acquaintenances about the risks of HIV. "Public education is part of my job," she says. Next Steps
Vazirani is seeking additional nursing training in psychiatry. She is about a third of the way through a master's program for psychiatric nurse practictioner at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. She says the degree will enhance her ability to care for HIV patients. "You're treating people who are getting ill in their peak years ... It's a block on what they thought was going to happen," she says. Helping HIV patients is fulfilling work for Vazirani, but she wishes for the day her specialty becomes obsolete. "Hopefully there will be a day when you won't need HIV nurses ... that's a nice thought," she says. – Written by Kathleen Brill |
