Objective and background: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of an educational program on blood and blood products transfusion on nurses’ knowledge and performance in hospitals affiliated with Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.

Method: The present study was a semi-experimental before-after study. We selected study participants through the simple random sampling method using sampling framework of all reference population. Data collection tool was a valid and reliable questionnaire. In order to evaluate the effect of the educational program on nurses’ level of knowledge and practice, we asked them to fill out the questionnaires before and after the education course. We analyzed data using SPSS 22. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentages and analytical statistics such as Mann- Whitney, Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis were used to report the results. The significance level of the p-value was assumed to be < 0.05.

Results: Our analysis revealed a significant difference in the mean score of the nurses’ level of knowledge before and after the education (p=0.001). There was also a significant difference in the mean score of veteran nurses’ performance before and after the intervention (p<0.05). The association between sex and mean score of nurses’ performance was not significant before and after the intervention. The association between nurses’ knowledge score and age, sex, work experience and department of the hospital was not significant (p>0.05).

Conclusion: Educational programs about blood transfusion can positively influence nurses’ knowledge and performance. There is a need to improve nurses’ knowledge and performance about the inadvertent side effects of blood transfusion.