Preparedness for infection prevention and control practice among undergraduate health sciences students: A systematic review protocol

Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) advocates for the strengthening of education and training in infection prevention and control (IPC) in higher educational institutions (HEIs). This is fundamental to ensure health science students are confident and competent in clinical practice. Aim: Explore the preparedness of undergraduate health science students for IPC practice. Search strategy: The PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, EMBASE, ProQuest, Scopus, Web of Science, ClinicalKey, and Google Scholar databases and grey literature will be searched for relevant articles. Inclusion criteria: Quantitative, and mixed methods studies on teaching and learning, technological methods, strengths and limitations, and challenges of IPC practice in HEI undergraduate curricula. Participant characteristics: Undergraduate health science students including medical, nursing, pharmacy, dental, physiotherapy, radiology, medical imaging, and paramedicine. Setting and time frame: Studies published anywhere in the world, in English, and from 2010 to 2023. Search terms: Preparedness, health science students, infection prevention and control, technology, higher education institutions. Data extraction: The data extracted will be recorded on a data extraction form. Assessment of risk of bias: This will be conducted according to the criteria outlined in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Ethics and dissemination: No ethical approval was required for this protocol. Interim findings will be presented at relevant local and international conferences and a manuscript will be published in a peer reviewed journal. Discussion: This systematic review will provide a baseline for recommendations for developing innovative ways to improve IPC teaching and learning in HEI.