'You're not God you’re just a person': revolutionising roles, hierarchies and relationships on Australian HIV and AIDS wards

Historically hospitals have been hierarchical workplaces with a starkly gendered division of labour between doctors and nurses. However, on HIV and AIDS wards traditional roles and relationships were revolutionised. In many clinical settings the relationships between doctors, nurses and patients changed dramatically in the years between Australia’s first AIDS diagnosis in 1982 and the introduction of effective treatment in 1996. The distinct virological nature of HIV brought to light, and elevated, the crucial role of nurses in patient care. Nurses and their patients – often young, vocal and politically assertive gay men – formed close relationships that blurred the lines between their personal and professional lives. Doctors were no longer ‘God’ on the wards and, in many healthcare settings, patient care and the role of nurses were transformed.