Introduction. Understanding sepsis is essential for its early detection and prompt treatment. Education on sepsis should begin during training, making it important to evaluate students’ knowledge. This research aimed to build on a previous study by exploring the level of sepsis knowledge among undergraduate nursing students and analyzing differences across academic years and study formats.Methods. This cross-sectional study involved 419 nursing students from the University of Applied Health Sciences in Zagreb, Croatia. Participants included students from all three academic years, as well as both full-time and part-time (employed) nursing students. Data collection utilized a modified version of the sepsis knowledge questionnaire created by Eitze et al., while demographic details such as gender, age, employment status, and academic year were also recorded. The data were analyzed using SPSS (IBM, Version 25.0), employing the Chi-square test to assess statistical significance.Results. Statistically significant differences were found in the percentage of third-year students providing correct answers related to sepsis knowledge when compared to first- and second-year students. Additionally, employed students demonstrated a significantly higher number of correct responses regarding the causes and symptoms of sepsis compared to their non-employed peers.Conclusions. The capacity of nursing students to recognize and respond to a patient’s deterioration due to sepsis highlights the urgent need for comprehensive sepsis education. Our results indicate the need for greater integration of sepsis-related topics into the core nursing curriculum, particularly emphasizing practical training and simulation exercises to enhance early detection and management of sepsis.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24141/2/8/2/4
Publish Year: 2024
