Background: COVID -19 pandemic affected the global population, and infection is a
high risk among nurses in surgical units. Because is particularly prevalent in healthcare
settings, nurses' educational institutions must take steps to safeguard themselves and others
during the outbreak by preventing COVID -19 and caring for infected COVID -19 patients.
This study aimed to evaluate the effect of instructional guidelines regarding covid-19 on
nurses' knowledge and practices in the surgical unit. Design: A quasi-experimental design
was used. Setting: The study was carried out at Surgical Unit at Fayoum University Hospital.
Sample: The study included a convenient sample of all surgical nurses (30 nurses). Three
tools for data collection were used: (1) Demographic structured interview sheet, (2)
surgical nurses' knowledge regarding Covid-19 assessment questionnaire, and (3) surgical
nurses' practices regarding preventive measures of COVID -19 observation check lists.
Results: Less than two-thirds of the studied nurses received training courses regarding
COVID-19 before. The majority of the studied nurses reported that their main source of
information about knowledge regarding COVID-19 was doctors. Nurses' knowledge of
COVID -19 improved after one month of implementing instructional guidelines (P=0.001),
with a highly statistically significant difference between pre/post one month of instructional
guidelines (P=0.001). A statistically significant correlation was found between the scores of
the studied nurses' COVID-19 knowledge and practice. Conclusion: The study concluded
that instructional guidelines implementation for nurses in the surgical unit had a positive
effect on improving nurses' knowledge and practice regarding COVID-19 with significant
differences one month after instructional guidelines implementation. Recommendation: In-
service training program for nurses in the surgical unit to improve their knowledge and
practices on the management of covid-19.