Nurses' competency and their role in prevention and control of hospital infections: A case study in a large military teaching hospital

Aims: The aim of the study was to investigated competencies and the role of nursing team members in managing the nosocomial infections (NIs) in a large military teaching hospital in Iran. Settings and Design: The study data were collected using standard 3-part questionnaire including demographic characteristics, self-rated competency ability rating and role in competency activities. Subjects and Methods: Nurses were selected by stratified random sampling and proportional to size between wards. Statistical Analysis Used: The answers were analysed by Chi-square test and one-way analysis of variance in Stata 14. Results: The results showed that only 12% of nurses were expert and the majority (48.8%) were proficient for each of the 8 core competency activities. Preventing/controlling the transmission of infectious agents had the highest proportion of nurses who self-rated competency level as novice (53%), followed by surveillance and epidemiologic investigations and environment of care (52% and 45%, respectively). Competency differences by sex, age, experience, occupation unit, job category and working hours a week were obtained (P < 0.05). Only, 26% of nurses reported that they did not have role in each competency activity. Conclusions: The results showed that the majority of nurses were involved in different tasks, while their competencies were at the novice level. Considering the vital role of nurses in providing the services and preventing the infection, low levels of competency will be an alert for hospitals about the prevalence of NIs and its consequences, which should be taken into consideration in the future programs seriously