OBJECTIVES: The significance of patient engagement in infection prevention and control (IPC) remains to be stressed as a means of improving patient safety. This study aimed to determine nurses’ awareness on IPC, assess patient and family education on IPC, and examine the effect of nurses’ IPC awareness on patient and family education.

METHODS: A multi-site, cross-sectional study was conducted among 566 nurses in Hungary. Nurses responded to a validated questionnaire of three parts including demographics, IPC awareness; healthcare-associated infections, hand hygiene (HH), and standard precautions (SP), and patient and family education. The cut-off level for acceptable awareness score was set at 70%. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare the difference in IPC awareness across demographics. Chi-Square test was used to compare the difference in IPC patient and family education across demographics and IPC acceptable/non-acceptable awareness groups. A logistic regression analysis was done to identify independent predictors of acceptable awareness for each IPC area.

RESULTS: Of all nurses, 91.7% were females. Acceptable scores were reached in overall IPC awareness (16.69 ± 2.504) and SP (10.11 ± 1.509) only. Holding a university nursing degree was a significant predictor of acceptable awareness in all IPC areas. Nurses educated patients and family members the most on HH (71.9%) and the least on the reason for isolation (36.9%). Nurses with acceptable awareness educated patients more than those with non-acceptable awareness but, the differences were only significant for respiratory hygiene (P= 0.001) and the reason for isolation (P= 0.019).

CONCLUSIONS: The study shows acceptable scores of IPC overall awareness and SP among Hungarian nurses, and highlights a low level of patient and family education on IPC. Nursing leaders are encouraged to enhance the culture that is based on nurses-patients partnership and to develop reminders to emphasize the importance of engaging patients in IPC.