Background and Objective : Nosocomial infection is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in hospitalized patient. Some experts believe that nurses have a major role in infection control. We aimed to examine and compare the knowledge and practice of prevention and control of Nosocomial infection among nurses and nursing students in Amol.

  Material and Methods : This cross­-sectional study was conducted on 190 nurses working in state hospitals of Amol (n­=100) and internship nursing students (n=90) in 2010.­We collected the data by a questionnaire including personal characteristics, knowledge and practice part, and analyzed, using statistical software SPSS-16,by descriptive statistics and independent samples t­-test, chi-square and Pearson correlation.

  Results: The mean score of nurses' knowledge and practice, respectively,­ was 6.91±1.06 and 8.00±1.33 in the range of 0-10 that is significantly more than students' knowledge and practice 6.29±1.73 and 7.56 ± 7.56­(P­=0.­009). More Than half of the participants (59% of students and 53.4% nurses) have a moderate level of knowledge. There is significant difference between nurses' knowledge and students' (P­=0­.­003).

  Conclusion: The results suggest that students’ knowledge and performance is weaker than those of nurses. And they both need to receive Documented and managed training programs related to prevention and control of nosocomial infection during their educational period and work.

  Keywords: ­Knowledge, Performance, ­­Nosocomial infection, Nurse, Nursing student, Prevention