Infection control dogma among nurses in Iran

Using 33 dogmatic statements about infection control, we assessed the knowledge of infection control nurses at a conference in Iran and compared their responses with those of infection control nurses at a conference in the United States. A majority of those at the Iran conference responded correctly to 11 (33%) of 33 statements, whereas a majority at the US conference responded correctly to 20 (61%) of the statements. The differences in responses were significant (P<.001). Nurses at the Iran conference were more likely to agree with dogma not supported by the literature and to put more faith in general cleanliness to prevent infection than is supported by the literature. A similar questionnaire survey might be useful in countries like Iran that are developing their infection control personnel and infrastructure.