Nursing students and healthcare-associated infections

The level of knowledge about nosocomial infections is an essential component in the enhancement of measures to combat nosocomial infections and in the development of effective preventive and curative strategies. The aim of this study is to describe the knowledge, attitudes and practices of students in the Nursing Care stream with regard to healthcare-associated infections. It is a cross-sectional study, using a self-administered questionnaire, which took place between February and June 2019. One hundred and fifty-nine students (n=159) were surveyed. The mean score for general knowledge was 3.42 1.50. The mean score for knowledge of attitudes and practices was 11.50 3.42. The average total score was 14.92 5.007. The total score was better for students who had received training in nosocomial infections (P˂0 .05). The Multi-skilled Nurse option recorded the best knowledge scores compared with the other options in the pathway. The definition of nosocomial infection and the mode of transmission by hand were ignored by more than half of the students.