First aid knowledge among high school students and teachers in Baghdad

Abstract

Background: First aid knowledge is crucial to saving lives, students are vulnerable to emergencies and accidents thus it is mandatory for teachers to be aware of how to deal with such events, knowledge of students of First aid may have a role in minimizing poor outcomes.Aims of study: To assess first aid knowledge among secondary school students and their teachers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 15 secondary schools selected randomly from Baghdad, participating students and teachers were directly interviewed using a structured questionnaire composed of questions regarding emergency conditions and their management, to assess the level of knowledge and then accordingly were classified into good, fair and poor knowledge, and then the association with teachers’ age was also assessed.Results: The study involved 623 students mean age of 17±3, (324, 52%) were females and (436, 70%) of them had poor knowledge while 119 teachers with a mean age was 40±15 years 74,62% were females, (107,90%) had poor knowledge and was not significantly associated with age.Conclusion: Most teachers had poor First aid knowledge, and students' knowledge was relatively better though two-thirds had poor knowledge.