The Knowledge of Nursing Internship Program Students about Early Detection of Sepsis

Background: Sepsis is a life-threatening condition due to the failure of the body’s regulation of infection. Knowledge deficit is one of the barriers to early detection and initiation of sepsis care. Nursing internship program students as future nurses need to have sufficient knowledge about early detection of sepsis to support their behavior. Thus, the purpose of this study was to describe the knowledge of nursing internship program students regarding the early detection of sepsis and the demographic factor related to the knowledge. Methods: The study design was a quantitative study. Through the proportionate stratified non-random sampling technique, the researcher involved 143 nursing internship program students of Universitas Padjadjaran. Data collection used a questionnaire based on the Sepsis-3 guidelines to measure nursing internship program students’ knowledge about early detection of sepsis. The data was carried out in July-August 2021.   Results: The average knowledge score of the respondents was 70.4 (SD=11.9). More than half of the respondents (56.6%) got a score below the average. Almost all respondents do not know the current definition of sepsis and still use the SIRS definition as clinical criteria for sepsis. However, respondents could identify clinical criteria for sepsis based on qSOFA and analyse sepsis indicators based on case scenarios. Meanwhile, based on its characteristics, the information is a factor that significantly affects the knowledge score (p < 0.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, there is still a gap in the knowledge of the nursing internship program students regarding the update of the Sepsis-3 guidelines. Besides, information is identified as the factor that influences knowledge. Therefore, it suggested that the institution provide further effective educational methods to update students’ knowledge about the early detection of sepsis.