Background The Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) at King Abdulaziz Medical City - Western Region (KAMC-WR) aims to improve antimicrobial use through several interventions including education of healthcare providers. Nursing represents more than a third of the health workforce at KAMC-WR. Nurses’ important role in facilitating the implementation of ASP has been recognized and is supported by the literature. In developing a customized educational curriculum to reinforce the role of nursing in antimicrobial stewardship (AS), this study has been done, in collaboration with the Nursing Education Department, to assess nurses’ learning needs. Although studies have examined AS knowledge, there is no empirical data regarding assessment of nurses’ learning needs of AS in Saudi Arabia.

Methods A descriptive, cross-sectional survey of all levels of nursing staff using a learning needs assessment tool was implemented. The tool consisted of 13 questions aiming to assess nurses’ perceived knowledge of antimicrobials’ spectrum of activity, usage, indication, duration, adverse effects, antimicrobial resistance, Clostridium difficile infection, vaccination, antibiotic prophylaxis, and questions related to diagnostic modalities for infectious syndromes. A five-point Likert scale was used with responses ranging from ‘satisfied’ to ‘dissatisfied’ and ‘not applicable’. Questionnaires were validated by circulating the survey to ten nurses with a varying number of years of experience, and assessing their responses. Validated questionnaires were handed out by the nurse managers of all 31 NGHA departments. Simple descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.

Results The response rate was 43% (608 of 1411). Cardiac, oncology, and surgery departments represented most of the responses. Nurses’ years of experience ranged from 0 to 32 years. The majority of nurses were SN1 and 2 (56% and 32%, respectively). Knowledge was mainly lacking in identification of patients with possible C difficile infection, prolonged antimicrobial infusion protocols, and rapid diagnostic test sampling techniques. ‘Neutral’ was the mode for most answers of 8 of 13 questions, and the rest were ‘moderately satisfied’. The ‘not applicable’ category was chosen by 2–5% of responders depending on the question. This indicates that many nurses are unsure of their need for training, and that some nurses do not even identify their crucial role in AS.

Conclusion In this study, nurses’ learning needs of AS were assessed. The results show that nursing staff are in need of professional development and training on AS concepts and their key role in ASPs. The results of this survey will help the ASP at KAMC-WR build a tailored educational curriculum that aims to improve overall patient care.