In fall 1990, a study was conducted to assess the attitudes of nursing students who were attending Riverside Community College (RCC), in California, toward exposure to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome/Human Immunodeficiency Virus (AIDS/HIV) positive patients in a hospital setting. All students enrolled in RCC's associate degree nursing program were surveyed using an adaptation of Wiley's HIV-Impact questionnaire, which employed a Likert scale. In addition, narrative comments were elicited. Study findings, based on responses from all 195 students surveyed, included the following: (1) 56.9% indicated that interaction with HIV-positive individuals would be a positive educational experience; (2) 62.6% feared potentially exposing their families to the disease; (3) 69.2% feared that they would be exposed to HIV infections as students in a clinical setting; (4) 73.8% felt that they were provided with adequate infection control procedures and information for self-protection by the nursing program; (5) 80% felt that nurses should be allowed to refuse assignment to AIDS/HIV-positive patients; (6) 90% indicated that their families supported their decision to go into nursing; (7) 64.6% felt that students should be provided with the option of refusing to work with AIDS/HIV-positive patients, while 74.4% indicated that they would not routinely refuse such assignments; and (8) 93.7% responded that the AIDS threat was not a factor in their selecting nursing as a career. The study report includes a literature review, recommendations for future action, the survey instrument, data tables, and narrative responses. (MAB)