The Effects of an Intensive Education Program on Hospital Infection Control on Nursing Students' Knowledge, Attitude, and Confidence in Infection Control

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop and conduct an intensive education program on infection control and investigated how the program influenced nursing students' knowledge, attitude, and confidence in the infection control. METHODS: The program was conducted for four days between January 5 and 8, 2016, for seven hours per day. The program was conducted by the specialists in infectious diseases and the nurses specializing in infection, and the third year students enrolled in E University participated in the program. Knowledge, attitude, and confidence in infection control were measured before and after the program in the students that participated in the program and those who did not. The experimental group consisted of 33 students while the control group comprised 28 students. RESULTS: The two groups were found to be homogeneous before the education program. After four days of intensive education program, the experimental group showed statistically significant improvements in knowledge (t=2.02, p=.048), attitude (t=2.04, p=.045), and performance confidence (t=2.75, p=.008) in infection control when compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that our intensive education program on hospital infection control was effective for the nursing students who will be professional nurses who will carry out autonomous roles in infection control in a near future.