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Assessing Greek National Educational Program's effectiveness: “Basic principles of infection prevention and control”

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Published: Apr 1, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/healthresj.42883
Keywords:
Infection prevention and control educational program nursing education effectiveness evaluation infection control nurses asynchronous education
Christos Triantafyllou
RN, MSCE, PhD, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, Goudi Athens, Greece
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3198-3965
Theodoros Katsoulas
Associate Professor in Critical Care Nursing, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, Goudi Athens, Greece
Angeliki Karaiskou
RN, MSC, PhD (c), Agency for Quality Assurance in Health S.A, Athens, Greece
Dimitra Kousi
Biostatistician, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Outcomes Research (CLEO), Neo Psichiko, Greece
Eleni Kourkouni
Senior Biostatistician, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Outcomes Research (CLEO), Neo Psichiko, Greece
Daphne Kaitelidou
Professor of Health and Human Resources Management, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, Goudi Athens, Greece, President, Agency for Quality Assurance in Health S.A., Athens, Greece
Theoklis Zaoutis
Professor of Paediatrics, Second Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 'P. and A. Kyriakou' Children's Hospital, Goudi Athens, Greece
Pavlos Myrianthefs
Professor of Critical Care and Pulmonary Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Health Sciences, De-partment of Nursing, Goudi Athens, Greece
Abstract

Background: It is essential to train healthcare professionals, particularly nurses, on the procedure of infection prevention and control.


Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational process of the Greek national educational program titled "Basic Principles of Infection Prevention and Control".


Method and Material: This study utilized a one-group pre-post design to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational program conducted over five cycles (September 20, 2021–November 29, 2022). Trainees completed a pre-evaluation questionnaire, including 45 multiple-choice knowledge questions, and a final 100-question exam at the program's end. The same 45 questions were used to assess knowledge improvement. Statistical analyses, included descriptive statistics and paired samples t-tests, as score differences followed a normal distribution. A significance level of p≤0.05 was applied to determine whether trainees' knowledge significantly improved after the educational program.


Results: In the first five educational cycles, a total of 442 trainees completed both the pre-evaluation questionnaire (pre-test) and the final exams (post-test). Of these, 88.5% (391) showed an improvement in their performance, while 10.6% (47) saw a decline. The performance of the remaining 0.9% (4) stayed the same.


Conclusion: There is a marked improvement in the overall level of nurses' knowledge regarding infection prevention and control when comparing the post-implementation phase of the educational program with the pre-implementation phase. Implementing educational programs is essential for nurses to continually enhance their knowledge of infection prevention and control, reduce the incidence of healthcare-associated infections and decrease the duration and cost of hospital stays for pediatric and adult patients.

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