Nursing students’ knowledge and practice of infection control precautions : an educational intervention

Aim. This paper is a report of the effectiveness of a purpose-designed education\ud program in improving undergraduate nursing students’ understanding and practice\ud of infection control precautions.\ud Background. The severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003 highlighted\ud that healthcare workers were under-prepared for such an epidemic. While many\ud in-service education sessions were arranged by institutions in response to the outbreak,\ud preservice nursing education has overlooked preparation for handling such\ud infectious disease epidemics.\ud Method. A quasi-experimental design was used and a 16-hour, purpose-designed\ud infection control education programme was implemented for preservice nursing\ud students in southern Taiwan. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed at\ud three time points during the period September 2005 to April 2006 to examine the\ud sustainability and effectiveness of the intervention.\ud Results. A total of 175 preservice nursing students participated in the study.\ud Following the education programme, students in the intervention group showed a\ud statistically significant improvement across time in their knowledge of these\ud precautions [F(2, 180) = 13Æ53, P < 0Æ001] and confidence in resolving infectionrelated\ud issues [F(1Æ79, 168Æ95) = 3Æ24] when compared with those in the control\ud group.\ud Conclusion. To improve nursing students’ capacity in responding to infectious\ud epidemics, an educational programme that integrates the theme of infection\ud precautions, learning theory and teaching strategies is recommended for all\ud nursing institutes