Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
TURKIYE KLINIKLERI TIP BILIMLERI DERGISI, cilt.30, sa.6, ss.1999-2003, 2010 (SCI-Expanded)
Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate parents' knowledge on pediatric first aid practices. Material and Methods: The survey cohort comprised 631 parents who presented to the Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine. Parents were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding their knowledge on stings and bites, burns and scalds, eye injuries, fractures and sprains, fever, head injuries, fainting, poisoning, dental emergencies, nosebleeds, seizures and skin wounds. The survey questions were prepared from first aid instructions published on a poster distributed by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2000. Results: A total of 631 parents were surveyed. Their mean age was 30.6 (range 18-51 years), 62% of them were females, 68% had a primary or secondary school educational level, and 32% held higher education degrees. The weakest areas of knowledge were how to treat a child in a situation involving nosebleed, fainting and poisoning with caustic and corrosive substances. Only 27 (4.3%) had received previous formal training in first aid; the remaining 604 (95.7%) had not undertaken such a training. Those who had taken a course in first aid at least once within five years achieved significantly better results. A statistical to comparison between groups who had received previous formal training in first aid and who had not revealed that test z value was -6.165 and p value was significant (p<0.001). Knowledge of specific guidelines ranged from 23.6 to 95.4%. There was no correlation between knowledge and age, gender or education of parents. Conclusion: First aid knowledge and participation in first aid courses in Turkey is low-insufficient or lacking in general. Public education and first aid courses should be made available in order to improve first aid education among adult laypersons.