Vol. 8, Issue 1, Part A (2026)

Background: Nosocomial infection is one of the main causes of increased morbidity and mortality in hospitalized individuals, especially in developing countries. Stethoscopes are thought to have the potential to spread infectious organisms, which could lead to healthcare-associated infections.

Aim: Assessment of the awareness of the nursing staff in the intensive care units regarding the stethoscope as a potential source of nosocomial infection.

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted in intensive care units during the period from 1st of January to 1st of July 2025. A convenient sample of 100 nurses was enrolled in the current study. The data was collected by a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included closed-ended questions to assess the knowledge and practice toward the stethoscope as a potential source of nosocomial infection. The awareness was calculated as each correct answer was signed as 1 while the incorrect answer was signed 0, consequently, the score of awareness ranges from 0 to 10.

Results: More than half of the participants had moderate knowledge (51%), 27% of them had good knowledge, and 22% had poor knowledge. More than half of the participants followed the correct practice regarding the interval to clean and disinfect their stethoscopes. The proportion of participants with good knowledge was significantly higher among participants who were employed for more than 20 years than among others (P-value=0.004). Furthermore, it was significantly higher among participants who had training about cleaning and disinfection of medical instruments (P-value=0.002). The percentages of participants with good knowledge were significantly higher among participants who followed correct practice regarding the cleaning interval for intact and non-intact stethoscopes (P-values were 0.027 and 0.030, respectively).

Conclusion: Most of the participants had a moderate to good level of knowledge, and more than half of them obeyed correct practice regarding the cleaning and disinfection of the stethoscope. Duration of employment and training programs significantly affected the level of knowledge, which in turn affected the practice of participants.