DESCRIPTION OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF THE PREVENTION OF NOSOCOMIAL INFECTION AMONG CLINICAL STUDENTS OF RIVERS STATE UNIVERSITY, NIGERIA

Nosocomial infections are a great cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients due to their easy transmissibility from a patient to patient, the environment, contaminated water, or through the health care provider who does not practice appropriate infection control measures. Over the years, these infections have developed major resistance to antimicrobial agents. Clinical students, like other health care staff constantly encounter patients in the hospital and could act as a vehicle of spread of these infections through the ward and this study assessed the knowledge, attitude and practice of the prevention of Nosocomial infection amongst clinical students of Rivers State University using a crosssectional study design with a structured, self-administered questionnaire. Data collected between July and November 2024 and analysed using SPSS version 21.0. Results shows that 92.0% of the students had heard of nosocomial infection and 91.7% of these students had good knowledge of nosocomial infection. The attitude and practice of prevention of nosocomial infection were deemed optimal and average respectively. This study shows that majority of the clinical students had good knowledge of nosocomial infection as well good attitude though with an average level of practice towards the prevention of nosocomial infection. Therefore, there is a need for proper sensitization and implementation on hospital acquired infection prevention and control especially among clinical students in their early clinical years.