Effect of an educational program to improve nursing staff knowledge toward preventing urinary tract infection associated with catheters at Kirkuk City, Iraq

Objective: To evaluate the effect of an educational program on nursing staff regarding urinary tract infection associated with catheters (UTIAC) prevention in Kirkuk General Hospital, Kirkuk City. Methodology: This pre-experimental (pre-post) one group study was conducted by purposive sample of 54 nurses recruited from respiratory, coronary, and intensive care units at Kirkuk General Hospital. A questionnaire was completed by all participants. It had two parts: Part I: Socio-demographic questionnaire and Part II: Level of nurses’ knowledge questionnaire. Data collection was carried out from December 2022 to February 2023 and were analyzed by SPSS version 22. Results: The males were 55.6%, and 51.9% belonged to age group <25 years. Most (83.3%) were from nursing college, 40.7% had between 1-2 years’ experience as nurses, while 87% had not received any training about UTIAC prevention. There were highly significant statistical differences between pre- and post-program at p<0.001 for nurse’s knowledge about preventing UTIAC. There was no significant relationship between nurses’ level of knowledge and their demographic characteristics. Conclusion: The educational program had a significant and positive effect on nursing staffsꞌ knowledge about preventing UTIAC.