Purpose: The objective of this study was to examine the relationships between nurses’ knowledge and performance for the prevention of intravascular catheter-related infections (ICRI) according to the strength of recommendations in evidence based guidelines (EBG). Methods: The total participants were 144 nurses working for medical·surgical unit and intensive care unit. Data were collected from July 12 to July 30, 2010 and analyzed by one way ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation analysis. Results: The knowledge and performance mean scores were 0.80±0.17 and 3.04±0.31 for peripheral venous catheter (PVC) management, and 0.83±0.17 and 3.00±0.30 for central venous catheter (CVC) management respectively. The items of category IA had the highest knowledge score (F=44.70, p<.001) and the items of category II had the highest performance score (F=47.09, p<.001) in PVC management, while the items of category IA had the highest knowledge (F=20.04, p<.001) and performance scores (F=18.20, p<.001) in CVC management. Knowledge and performance scores were significantly correlated in CVC management (r=.24, p=.004), but not in PVC management (r=.03, p=.753). Conclusion: EBG for the prevention of ICRI was not fully implemented in clinical settings. These findings emphasize that clinical professions need to develope strategies to enhance nursing practices with evidence based guideline.

Keywords: Catheter related infection, Evidence based nursing, Knowledge, Clinical competence