Abstract
Background: Healthcare students act as potential vectors for pathogenic agents and play a vital role in transmitting nosocomial infections. Therefore, assessing their knowledge on nosocomial infections and control measures will aid in preventing these infections. Objectives: This study aimed to assess knowledge on nosocomial infections and control measures among healthcare students in the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among purposively selected 253 healthcare students. A pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire was used to assess knowledge about three main domains; nosocomial infections, standard precautions and hand hygiene. The sources of information for these 3 areas were also recorded. The final score ranged from 0-69 and were categorized into three levels; low, moderate and high. The significance level was set as p ≤ 0.05. Results: The mean overall score of the participants was 48.00 (SD±10.63). The majority (64%) had a high level of knowledge score. The nursing students showed the highest score (52.53, SD±7.94) than physiotherapy students (47.60, SD±10.85) and radiography students (43.16, SD±10.98). This difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). The mean scores for the domains of nosocomial infections, standard precautions and hand hygiene were 30.77 (SD±8.29), 10.23 (SD±2.59) and 7.00 (SD±1.86) respectively. Participants identified formal teaching in classrooms as the main source of information for all three domains. Conclusion: The knowledge among healthcare students regarding nosocomial infections and control measures was found to be satisfactory and information was largely acquired through formal teaching in classrooms.
Highlights
Nosocomial infections (NIs) known as healthcare associated infections occur in patients under medical care in a hospital or other healthcare facility which was neither present nor incubating at the time of admission to the healthcare facility
Two third of the participating students (63.2%) reported that they were not exposed to any infection control training programme during their course work
The highest scores were achieved for knowledge of standard precautions and hand hygiene, and the lowest score was for knowledge of nosocomial infection
Summary
Nosocomial infections (NIs) known as healthcare associated infections occur in patients under medical care in a hospital or other healthcare facility which was neither present nor incubating at the time of admission to the healthcare facility. Infections which become evident 48 hours or more after hospital admission or within 30 days of discharge are considered as “Nosocomial” or “Hospital Acquired Infection”[1,2,3,4]. This includes occupational infections among healthcare team of the facility[5]. Healthcare students act as potential vectors for pathogenic agents and play a vital role in transmitting nosocomial infections. Assessing their knowledge on nosocomial infections and control measures may aid in preventing these infections
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