Knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practices of health sciences students regarding hospital-acquired infection control protocols

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported practices of health sciences students regarding prevention of hospital acquired infections. Methodology: An observational cross sectional survey was conducted at Rawalpindi Medical University from March to November 2019 on 165 students from disciplines of MBBS, Allied Health Sciences and Nursing. Students were selected through convenience sampling. A self-designed questionnaire was used and the data were analyzed using SPSS version 25. Results: The mean knowledge score was 9.78 +/- 1.87. Mean practice score was 5.52 +/- 1.97. Only 30.3% of the responders knew that needles should not be recapped after use. 64.2% of the students had a keen attitude towards improving their knowledge and practices. Mean knowledge and practice scores were significantly different between the three course groups (p=0.041, p=0.001) with nursing students having highest mean knowledge and practice scores. Conclusion: The students had adequate knowledge about prevention of hospital acquired infections. The attitude of students towards learning about infection control was positive. There was significant difference in the knowledge and practice scores of different disciplines of students.