Infection prevention and control curriculum in undergraduate nursing program: Internship nursing students’ perspectives

Abstract

Undergraduate nursing education plays a vital role in acquiring the necessary competency for patient safety. Infection prevention and control is a very critical topic for providing patient safety so, undergraduate and graduate nursing students should be competent in infection prevention and control. The aim of this study was to measure the undergraduate nursing program effectiveness in improving knowledge and practice of infection prevention and control of internship nursing students and to identify their learning needs. A descriptive research design was used. Students were selected using convenience sampling which included 400 internship nurses. Data was collected using a self-reported questionnaire. The results of the current study displayed that more than half (59.5%) of the intern nurses had poor knowledge and also 43.2% of them had poor practice.  In addition, it was found that more than half of them reported that infection control program is neither irrelevant nor meaningful, and 48.5% of the students suggested that participation in infection prevention and control training is most important for the improvement of nursing program. This study concluded that infection prevention and control topics in undergraduate nursing education may be insufficient and need to be updated, as well as the need for reviewing the intended learning outcomes of nursing program to ensure the addition and implementation of infection control guidelines in all undergraduate in the last academic year of nursing program as well as internship. The students also are in need for continued training and education regarding guidelines of infection prevention and control practice.