Article Text
Abstract
Background Health-care-associated infections/hospital-acquired-infection-HAI affects patients in a hospital or other health-care facility, and is not present or incubating at the time of admission. These infections are commonly transmitted when health care providers become complacent and do not practice correct hygiene regularly. Moreover, some medical procedures bypass the body’s natural protective barriers. Since medical staff moves from patient to patient, the staff themselves serves as a means for spreading pathogens. Essentially, the staff acts as vectors. In the United States, it is estimated roughly 1.7 million HAIs, cause or contribute to 99,000 deaths, in Europe, the category of Gram-negative infections are estimated to account for two-thirds of the 25,000 deaths each year. In this study it is aimed to investigate last year medical students` (LYMSs) basic knowledge on contamination, basic rules and merits of prevention on HAIs.
Methods A questionnaire was administered to LYMSs containing questions on their sociodemographics and some questions about HIA (knowledge, practice and prevention of contamination). Of the LYMSs, 70% participated in this descriptive study.
Results Of the respondents, 65,8% were male, 55,9% experienced work accident, 59,6% had knowledge about HIA from various sources. Average score of knowledge questions was 17.4 (min 5, max 25). No association was found between the score and gender, formal training on HIA. Significant relation was found between knowledge score and hospital infection control program awareness (Mann Whitney U, p = 0.001), work accident history (Mann Whitney U, p = 0.029).
Conclusions Changes in undergraduate medical training mean that students have direct patient contact from an early stage of their training. These results raised concerns about medical students’ knowledge about infection control. In spite of the vigorous efforts of the Hospital Infection Control Committee since 1984 in this hospital, HIA is moderately frequent. The study is shared with the Faculty. Therefore faculty should consider the need for a more structured model for the teaching and assessment of infection control for medical-students.
- Health care-associated infections
- hospital acquired infections
- last year medical students
- Turkey