A pilot study to investigate patients reported knowledge, awareness, and beliefs on health care-associated infection.

Background: Health care-associated infections (HCAIs) remain a concern for patients, staff, and health care organizations. There is a lack of relevant literature on patients' views and opinions of infection control services.

Method: A descriptive study of 110 patients was undertaken utilizing a developed questionnaire to investigate patients' knowledge, perceptions, and beliefs around HCAIs.

Results: Respondents believed they were well aware of the risks of HCAI before hospital admission, but their knowledge on routes of transmission and prevention of infection was poor. Twenty-eight percent of the respondents were able to name Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as contributing to HCAIs. Patients' main sources of information about infections were newspapers and television.

Conclusion: Patients have a high level of awareness of the risk of HCAI but have little knowledge about how infections spread or about their prevention.