Comparing knowledge, attitude and practice of senior nursing students and graduates of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciencess

Appropriate nursing care for patients illustrates the quality of nursing practice in the society. In this study the knowledge, attitude and practice of senior nursing students and graduates of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciencess (SBMU) were compared.

54 nurses with a 4-6 years experience of nursing in the medical or surgical wards were selected through goal oriented sampling. 54 senior nursing students were randomly selected. Initial data was gathered using 4 questionnaires dealing with: knowledge, attitude, practice, and patients' and head nurses' opinion about the participants.

Mean score (± standard deviation) of knowledge was 63.7±3.2 and 45.3±2.1 in nurses and students, respectively (p<0.005). Positive attitude was recorded in 52% of participants. Patient evaluation of nursing students and graduates did not differ in the two groups, but the head nurses gave higher scores to the graduates (56.2±4.0) than to the students (53.4±6.0) (p<0.002).

Results revealed that both nursing students and graduates possess ample knowledge and most have a positive attitude. Patients were satisfied with the performance of both groups.