Introduction: Due to frequent and prolonged contact, Nursing staff are being identified as a potential risk group for the HIV/AIDS spread. To
reduce the transmission, adequate knowledge about the disease and practice of safety measures are of great importance. Objectives: To assess the knowledge, risk perception and practice of nursing staff towards HIV/AIDS patients. Methodology: The study was conducted from November 2019 to January 2020 in three tertiary health care institute in New Delhi. A total of 250 nurses were included and provided with a predesigned pretested questionnaire. Result: 86% of respondents correctly know that HIV is the agent that causes AIDS. 94% of the respondents know about spread of HIV via different modes of sexual contact. 96% nurses know that an accidental needle stick injury in the workplace can also transmit AIDS. Only 6.8% of the nurses believed that the AIDS patients should be isolated from the community because of their illness. 97% of nurses believed that HIV patients have right to the same quality of care & respect as other patients. 53% of nurses never recap needle, 62% of nurses always wipe any blood spills, 8% of nurse never put used needle in sharp container. Conclusion: Periodic
training for HIV/AIDS should be made compulsory for all nurses related to different aspects of HIV. Such training should include both theoretical knowledge & practical demonstration and should be followed by evaluation process. The study focuses on the need to train the nursing staff and ensure better patient care in the hospital.

Key words: HIV/AIDS; Nursing staff; Knowledge; Attitude; Risk Perception; Practice; Training.