Abstract
Objective:to analyze undergraduate nursing students' perception of biological risk and its relationship with their prior practical training. Method: a descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate nursing students enrolled in clinical practice courses in the academic year 2013-2014 at the School of Nursing at the University of Barcelona. Variables: sociodemographic variables, employment, training, clinical experience and other variables related to the assessment of perceived biological risk were collected. Both a newly developed tool and the Dimensional Assessment of Risk Perception at the worker level scale (Escala de Evaluación Dimensional del Riesgo Percibido por el Trabajador, EDRP-T) were used. Statistical analysis: descriptive and univariate analysis were used to identify differences between the perception of biological risk of the EDRP-T scale items and sociodemographic variables. Results: students without prior practical training had weaker perceptions of biological risk compared to students with prior practical training (p=0.05 and p=0.04, respectively). Weaker perceptions of biological risk were found among students with prior work experience. Conclusion: practical training and work experience influence the perception of biological risk among nursing students.
Highlights
One of the main objectives of university education is to prepare students for the professional world and to enable them to develop the skills that define each discipline
Biological risk is an important issue in public health, and hepatitis B, hepatitis C and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections are the most well known, other emerging diseases (e.g., Ebola) can be acquired by other routes of biological exposure, such as air or physical contact
With regards to vaccination status, most students reported being properly vaccinated against hepatitis A (93.6%), hepatitis B (97.4%), and tetanus (94.9%), but only 76.9% of students reported undergoing the tuberculin test
Summary
One of the main objectives of university education is to prepare students for the professional world and to enable them to develop the skills that define each discipline. Biological risk is an important issue in public health, and hepatitis B, hepatitis C and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections are the most well known, other emerging diseases (e.g., Ebola) can be acquired by other routes of biological exposure, such as air or physical contact. In this context, undergraduate nursing students work in an unfamiliar and complex clinical environment that exposes them to numerous risks[4] during their formative years. Their inexperience[1] and stress levels[5,6,7,8,9,10] are compounded with changing situations and constant uncertainty in this environment
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