Evaluating Nurses’ Knowledge Regarding Infection Control Standard Precautions in Dialysis Settings

Background: Hemodialysis’ patients and staff are particularly vulnerable to healthcare-associated infections due to repeated exposure to invasive procedures and potential contaminants. Infection control measures are essential in such high-risk settings, and nurses' knowledge plays a vital role in reducing infection transmission.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate nurses’ knowledge regarding infection control standard precautions in dialysis settings. Subjects and Methods: A pre-experimental one-group pre/posttest design was employed to accomplish this study. A convenience sample of 60 nurses who were involved in providing direct patient care were included in the study at the Hemodialysis Unit at Aswan University Hospital. Tools: Data were collected using an interview-based questionnaire, which included nurses’ personal data and 10 open-ended questions assessing their knowledge of infection control standard precautions. Each question was scored from 0 to 2, with total knowledge categorized as good (≥75%), average (60–<75%), or poor (<60%). Descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, and Chi-square tests were applied for data analysis.  Results: A statistically significant improvement was observed in the total mean knowledge scores of nurses following the implementation of the educational instruction guidelines. The mean score increased from 11.63±2.62 to 16.35±2.12 (p < 0.001). Prior to the intervention, only 13.3% of nurses demonstrated good knowledge, while 60% had poor knowledge. Following the instructional guidelines, 78.3% of nurses achieved good knowledge, and only 1.7% remained in the poor knowledge category. Conclusion: The educational instructional guidelines significantly enhanced nurses’ knowledge regarding standard infection control precautions in the dialysis unit. Recommendations: Regular educational instructional guidelins are recommended to enhance infection prevention awareness among dialysis staff.