Pre-registration nursing student’s knowledge and perception of MRSA

The infection prevention and control of MRSA has become a healthcare and government priority, as a result of the risk in presents to patient safety. The aim of this quantitative study was to investigate the knowledge and the perceived risk of contracting MRSA amongst pre-registration nursing students. The students were studying for a Masters of nursing science, a Bachelor of nursing or a Diploma of nursing, and were in their first, second, third or fourth year (only Masters students) of study. Difference in the knowledge and perceived risk between the students on the different courses and in different years was also investigated. A descriptive, cross sectional questionnaire was used as a method of obtaining the data. The results found that there was a high level of knowledge of MRSA amongst the pre-registration students; however gaps in their knowledge did exist. There was no difference found between the knowledge of the students on the different nursing courses, however it was found that as the students progressed in their course, from their first year to their final year of study, their knowledge of MRSA increased. The media was the most common source of information amongst all of the students. The perceived risk of contracting MRSA was low amongst all the students, and there was no significant relationship found between the perceived risk and the knowledge of the students. Similarly the perceived risk between the students on the different courses, and within different years of study was not significantly different. These results were discussed in light of the literature and implications for future nursing research, practice and education were drawn