First aid facilities in the school settings: Are schools able to manage adequately?

Abstract

Background and Objective: Children spend most of their time in schools and are  vulnerable to injuries and mild ailments, hence requiring first-aid care. School teacher can provide immediate first-aid care in  the absence of any health professional. This study assesses first-aid facilities within school premises and assessment of teachers on first aid training.

Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from July-December 2017, participants were full time school teachers of both public and private sectors at both primary and secondary levels, having a minimum of one year experience. Questionnaire was filled on one to one basis by taking oral interview.

Results: Out of 209 teachers, 72.7% were from private sector. Stomachache was the most common medical incident (82.29%) requiring first-aid care in schools. First aid box was available in all schools but its contents were not satisfactory. Sick bay was not found in any school. 68.42% of teachers were not trained in first-aid management because of lack of opportunity, however 56% were willing to enroll in any first aid training and majority (91.38%) considered it essential for their professional life.

Conclusion: First aid facilities at various schools of Karachi and availability of trained teachers who can provide first aid care is unsatisfactory. 

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.342.14766

How to cite this:Qureshi FM, Khalid N, Nigah-e-Mumtaz S, Assad T, Noreen K. First aid facilities in the school settings: Are schools able to manage adequately?  Pak J Med Sci. 2018;34(2):272-276.   doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.342.14766

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.