Arch Clin Infect Dis. 2014 July; 9(4): e18278. DOI: 10.5812/archcid.18278 Published online 1901 December 14. Research Article Knowledge and Practice of Nurses About the Control and Prevention of Nosocomial Infections in Emergency Departments Mojgn Kalantarzadeh 1 ; Esmaeil Mohammadnejad 2,* ; Seyyedeh Roghayeh Ehsani 3 ; Zahra Tamizi 4 1 Department of Medical Surgical, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Islamic Azad University, Kerman Branch, Kerman, IR Iran 2 Department of Nursing, Students' Research Committee, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran 3 Department of Nursing, Imam Khomeini Clinical and Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran 4 Department of Nursing, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran *Corresponding author: Esmaeil Mohammadnejad, Department of Nursing, Students' Research Committee, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran. Tel: +98- 2166936626, Fax: +98-2166936626, E-mail: asreno1358@yahoo.com Received: February 16, 2014; Revised: June 7, 2014; Accepted: June 10, 2014 Background: Basic infection control measures in any nursing setup can reduce the rates of healthcare-associated infections. Reducing the risk of infection and using the prevention principles are in the realm of nursing. Objectives: The current study aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge and practices on infection control among the nursing staff. Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study 224 nurses were selected by random sampling from three teaching hospitals. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire included three parts: demographic characteristic, level of knowledge, and practices among the nursing staff. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The result of the research showed that the majority of participants were female (53.6%), married (80.4%), had BS degree (89.3%) and had the working experience between 11 and 20 years (51.8%); 41.1% and 33.03% of the participants respectively had intermediate and high level of knowledge about infection control. Also the result showed that (75.8%) had intermediate level of performance in this field. There was a significant correlation between sex and performance of the participants (P = 0.014). Conclusions: According to the obtained results, the majority of nurses participating in the study had an intermediate level of knowledge and practice of infection control. There is a need to develop a system of continuous education for all the categories of nursing staff. Keywords:Nosocomial infection; Nurse; Knowledge Copyright © 2014, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited. 1. Background Treatment measures and therapy cares are concomi- tant with positive and sometimes unfavorable results like any economic, social, and sanitary activities. Hospi- tals offer services in an organized, permanent, and reli- able form. If health is considered as the final product of the treatment activity in an organization called hospi- tal, hospital infection should be treated as side effects and at the same time preventable ramifications of this organization (1). The Nosocomial infections (NIs) afflict a considerable number of patients all over the world and are among the major risks and causes of death in treatment centers and hospitals of the world. Despite the attempts to prevent such infections, the problem continues to cause death and increase the costs of sani- tary treatments (2-5). The healthcare-associated infec- tions (HAIs) were defined as a localized or systemic con- dition resulted from an adverse reaction to the presence of an infectious agent(s) or its toxin(s) that occurs dur- ing a hospital admission 48 hours or more after hospital admission or within 30 days after discharge, for which there is no evidence that the infection was present or incubating at admission, and meets body site-specific criteria (6-9). The NIs cause mental stresses, disability, paralysis, and decrease the quality of patients' lives (10). An estimate of the annual cost of treatment for HAIs ranges from $4.5 billion to $11 billion and HAIs contributed 88000 deaths in the U.S. in 1995 (11, 12). Some 1% of these infections are mortal and some 4% contribute to patients' deaths (10). About 50% of the patients undergoing different surgeries return to treatment centers and sometimes to the same hospital; nearly 23% of these visits are caused by NIs (13). The problems of NIs and the ways to prevent them are in- fluenced by factors such as employing aggressive meth- ods, repeated changes in medical and surgical methods, changes in medical compounds, antibiotic treatment and formation of resistant micro-organisms (14). Hos- pital personnel, especially the nurses play an important role in spreading the infection and they are considered as key members of managing and controlling the hospi- tal infections; therefore, nurses must have correct, up-to- date and appropriate scientific information regarding