Abstract
Background: Considering the fundamental role of nursing staff and students in patient care and nosocomial infection control. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the performance of students and nursing staff in nosocomial infection control in Behbahan city in 2019. Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical study. The participants were 217 nursing staff and students of three hospitals in Behbahan who were selected by random sampling. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire that consisted of demographic information and five common nursing procedures. The performance measurement criterion was based on fulfilling or not fulfilling standards. After gathering the data, they were analyzed by statistical tests, including ANOVA and Pearson correlation in SPSS 16 software. Results: The participants were 157 nursing staff and 60 nursing students. In line with the main objective of the study, the results showed that the average performance scores of students (152.9 ± 12.5) and nursing staff (15.5 ± 13.2) were at a good level, and there was no statistically significant difference between the performance of students and nursing staff (P = 0.08). Also, there was no statistically significant difference between the nursing staff of three hospitals (P = 0.76). However, there was a statistically significant difference between the performance scores of staff in different wards (P < 0.001). The CCU and NICU personnel outperformed other wards’ personnel. Conclusions: Based on these findings, it can be concluded that nurses at different levels of education, with different demographic characteristics, and different work environments have a good performance in controlling infections. This is a strong point in the nursing profession.