Long-term Effectiveness of Infection Control Training among Fourth-year Medical Students

The purpose of this study was to determine the long-term knowledge retention of infection control training among fourth-year medical students (n=110) who received training in their second year. Previous infection control training focused on standard precautions and infection control procedures. The evaluation of knowledge retention two years after the planned intervention demonstrated that although there was a significant knowledge increase about infection control immediately after participating in the intervention, there was no significant knowledge retention about infection control two years later. Furthermore, when the knowledge scores of the intervention group two years post training were compared to a control group, there were no differences. When compared to the control group, an improvement in reporting exposure incidents was found among the intervention group. More research is needed to determine effective training methods that can improve retention of infection control and safety precautions. Retraining on a regular basis may be indicated.