Background Professional isolation is viewed as a sense of isolation from ones professional peers and this has contributed to compromised quality of health service delivery as well as quality of life for health professionals in low resource environments. Professional isolation is a multidimensional concept which may be either geographic, social, and/or ideological. However, professional isolation in low resource environments remains poorly defined with a limited body of research focusing on health professionals. Aim To map and examine available literature on interventions for managing professional isolation among health professionals in low resource environments. Methods We conducted a scoping review of the published and grey literature to examine the extent, range and nature of existing research studies relevant to professional isolation in health professionals. Results Of the 10 articles retrieved, 70% were conducted in high income countries where the context may be different if applied to other low‐income settings such as in Africa. Only 20% of the studies focused specifically on nurses or the nursing profession and only 10% were conducted on the African continent. Conclusion There is insufficient research on the definition and origins of professional isolation among health professionals including the interventions that can be employed. Rural, remote and/or isolated settings significantly predispose health professionals to professional isolation but remain poorly defined. Additional research is recommended to explore and determine the interventions for managing professional isolation among health professionals in low resource environments.

Many HIV-infected patients diagnosed with the complex staging of the disease and severe opportunistic events require admission to critical care units, making care complicated. Further to this, antiretroviral therapy and unanswered questions concerning its use in these units add to the already intricate and complicated cases admitted to critical care. Complications are increased by issues including legal statutes concerning HIV/Aids testing and disclosure. As a result, this study was aimed at exploring the perceptions of critical care nurses towards their educational preparedness in managing HIV/AIDS patients admitted to CCUs in KwaZulu-Natal. A quantitative descriptive research design was used and data collection included a structured questionnaire and open-ended questions. The sample size consisted of 100 CCNs (79 from the public setting and 21 from the private sector). Of the critical care nurses, 44.6% (n=25) who had undergone training in HIV/AIDS management, only 25% (n=14) perceived that they were not educationally prepared to provide effective services for patients with HIV/AIDS. Fifty (n=50) (89.3%) critical care nurses reported that HIV/AIDS management should be incorporated into the critical care curriculum. Their universal perception, n=42 (75%), was that this will improve the standards of care. Nurses are still challenged by factors such as the advanced level of the HIV disease, confidentiality, knowledge about treatment regimen and emotional challenges related to caring for these patients. More research with a larger scale sample is required to provide appropriate generalisation of the findings of this study. Alternatively, a qualitative research study exploring the lived experiences of critical care nurses caring for people living with HIV/AIDS is suggested.