First Aid of Minor Ailments: Knowledge of Primary School Teachers

 

Mrs. Umarani J¹, Mrs. Renita Priya Dsouza²*, Mrs. Priya Reshma Aranha², Ms. Shilpa G.S²

¹Associate Professor, Department of Paediatric Nursing, Yenepoya Nursing College Mangalore

²Lecturer, Department of Paediatric Nursing, Yenepoya Nursing College Mangalore

 

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: Children are very active and curious. They spend most of their active time at school and are at risk for injuries and sickness. School teachers are responsible to take care of them at school. Knowledge of first aid will help the school teachers to treat the children at school.

Objective: To assess the knowledge of primary school teachers regarding first aid for common ailments.

Methodology: A descriptive study to assess the knowledge of primary school teachers regarding first aid for common ailments in children was conducted in selected Primary schools at Mangalore. Convenient sampling technique was used to select 100 primary school teachers from 4 schools. Data was gathered through structured knowledge questionnaire.

Results: The results mainly found that 26% teachers   had inadequate level of knowledge, 71% had moderately adequate level of knowledge, 3% had an adequate level of knowledge on first aid. The Association between knowledge score and demographic variables was assessed by using chi-square. There was no significant association found between any of the demographic variables and knowledge level of primary school teachers on first aid.

Conclusion: It is concluded that primary school teachers lack knowledge on first aid. Study recommends that the primary school teachers must undergo training in first aid to treat the common ailments in children at school.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Injuries are a serious health issue for children ages 6-12. As children get older they spend more time in new environments, try new activities and become more independent. These changes are important for a child’s growth but these changes also expose a child to new risks.  Risk is a natural and unavoidable part of childhood.  Children are not physically or cognitively able to sense danger, or to recognize and avoid hazards.¹ Parents totally entrust their children to the childcare schools. They rely on the teachers as their second parents in the institute for learning. They know for a fact that their educators will want no harm to come their way.

 

While they are busy working, they fully believe that their little kids are well cared for. On the other hand, the teachers have the responsibility to keep an eye on their students. They should make sure that they are comfortable and secured within the four walls of their school. This then calls for their ability to handle even the most stressful situations. So much more, the school staff has to be equipped with the first aid training. By nature, kids are hard to contain in one place. They are most of the times messy and playful. This therefore lets them end up getting wounds and injuries that vary from the petty up to the serious ones. There are cases when some of them find it difficult to breathe especially if they have medically related illnesses. When the school staff doesn't have any background or so in administering first aid, then the institution often ends up being sued by the fuming parents. So much more, the school staff has to be equipped with the first aid training.²

 

Hence the investigators were interested to assess the knowledge of primary school teachers on first aid for common ailments in children.

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Statement of the Problem:

A study to assess the knowledge of primary school teachers regarding first aid for common ailments in School children at selected primary school, Mangalore.

 

OBJECTIVES:

The objectives of the study are to,

1. To assess the knowledge of primary school teachers regarding first aid for common ailments in children.

2. To find the association between knowledge of primary school teachers regarding first aid for common ailments in children and selected demographic variables.

 

Operational Definitions:

Common ailments: It includes seizure, shock, choking, bleeding, burns, sprain and fracture.

 

Assumptions:

1. Primary school teachers may have basic knowledge regarding first aid for common ailments in children

2. Knowledge enhances practice

 

Delimitations:

The study is delimited to primary school teachers of selected schools at Mangalore

 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Research Approach:

Non experimental research approach

 

Research Design:

Descriptive research design

 

Research Setting

·        Yenepoya school, Mangalore

·        St. Sebastian’s school, Thokottu Mangalore

·        Holy Angels school Mangalore

·        Noor Ul Kudha Primary School, Katipalla, Mangalore

 

Population: School teachers

 

Sample: Primary school teachers

 

Sample Size: 100

 

Sampling Techniques:

Non probability convenient sampling technique.

 

Criteria for Sample Selection:

Inclusion criteria:

·        Primary school teachers of selected schools at Mangalore

·        Primary school teachers available during the period of data collection Exclusion criteria:

·        Primary school teachers who are not  willing to participate in the study

 

Development of Study Instrument:

Part-A Baseline data:

Age, gender, qualification, experience, previous exposure to first aid training.

 

Part-B:

Structured Questionnaire: Self administered structured questionnaire with 24 questions. Each right answer had a score of 1 and the total score of the questionnaire was 24.

Score Interpretation:

1-8  - Inadequate Knowledge

9-16 - Moderately adequate Knowledge

15-24 - Adequate Knowledge

 

RESULTS:

Main findings are discussed under the following headings :

 

Section I:

Distribution of Primary school teachers according to the demographic characteristics:

Table 1 shows the distribution of samples based on demographic characteristics

 

Table 1. Distribution of samples according to demographic characteristics

Characteristic	Frequency	Percentage (%)
Age in years Less than26 26-35 36-45 More than45	22 29 26 23	22 29 26 23
Gender Male Female	19 81	19 81
Qualification PUC with TCH/D.Ed Graduation with B.Ed Post graduation with B.Ed	41 51 8	41 51 8
Experience Less than 6 years 6-10 years 11-15 years More than 15 years	31 24 17 28	31 24 17 28
Previous exposure to any education programme on First Aid Yes No	0 100	0 100
Total	100	100

 

Section II: Knowledge of primary school teachers on first aid:

Majority 71% of samples had moderately adequate knowledge and 26% hade inadequate and 3% of samples had adequate knowledge with the mean knowledge score 11.

 

Figure 1: Knowledge o primary school teachers on first aid.

 

Table 2: Knowledge scoring of primary school teaches on first aid of selected problems

Sl. No.	Knowledge variable	Maximum score	Mean	Mean %
1	First aid for seizures	4	1.58	39.5%
2	First aid for shock	5	2.12	42.4%
3	First aid for choking	2	0.7	35.0%
4	First aid for bleeding and wounds	5	1.67	33.4%
5	First aid for burns	3	1.4	46.6%
6	First aid for sprain and fracture	5	3.34	66.8%

 

Section III: Association of the knowledge with demographic variables:

No association was found between any of the selected demographic variables and knowledge score of teachers on first aid.

 

DISCUSSION:

First aid is essential in emergency cases. Knowing what action needs to be taken to control an emergency can make the difference between life and death. Emergencies occur all around us, in all spheres of life. Someone may be injured at work, school or at home. When this happens, first aid basics will equip anyone around the injured person to reduce the danger posed by the accident. 

 

As children are very active and are at high risk for accidents and injuries in schools it is essential that school teachers know about the first aid. Basic first aid can save life many a times. This study showed that teachers are having inadequate knowledge of first aid.  Results of our study is concordance with the study done by   Salwa A Ali et al.  Authors observed that school teachers had poor knowledge scores on first aid.³ Study done by Baser M determined that primary school teachers do not have correct knowledge on first aid.⁴ Sunil Kumar D. Et al noted that Overall perception and practice among school teachers was poor.⁵ Study done by Feng Li et al found out only 3.7% school teachers had passing scores for knowledge on first aid.⁶

CONCLUSION:

The primary school teachers lack the knowledge of first aid. As the children spend most of their day time in school and under the supervision of teachers, the teachers must be equipped with knowledge of first aid. Thus the investigators recommend that teachers must undergo a special training in first aid.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

Authors would like to express the gratitude to the management and teachers of the Yenepoya School, St. Sebastian’s School, Holy Angels School and Noor Ul Kudha Primary School, Mangalore for their whole hearted cooperation and support during the study.

 

Conflicts of Interest:

Authors declare that they have no competing interest

 

REFERENCES:

1.       Preventing injury in school aged children [Internet]. [Cited on 2013 Jul 22]. Available from http: //www.albertahealthservices.ca/4855.asp‎.

2.       The Importance of First Aid Training among the Childcare School Staff [Internet]. [Cited on 2013 Jul 22]. first-aid-training.bafree.net.

3.       Salwa A. Ali., Amany R. Abu-Elseoud., Soheir M. Heybah,  Azhar A. Mohamed. Implementation Of An Educational Training Program In First Aid For Newly Graduated Nursery School Teachers At Zagazig City. Zagazig Journal of Occupational Health and Safety.1 June 2010;3(1):20-29

4.       Başer M, Coban S, Taşci S, Sungur G, Bayat M. Evaluating first-aid knowledge and attitudes of a sample of Turkish primary school teachers. J Emerg Nurs. 2007 Oct [Cited on 2013 Jul 22] ;33(5):428-32

5.       Sunil Kumar D, Kulkarni P, Srini- vas N, Prakash B, Hugara S, Ashok. NC. Perception And Practices. Regarding First-Aid .National journal of Community Medicine. APR-Jun 2013.4(2).349-352

6.       Feng Li, Fan Jiang, Xingming Jin, Yulan Qiu, Xiaoming Shen. Pediatric first aid knowledge and attitudes among staff in the preschools of Shanghai, China.BMC Pediatric. 2012.12(121)

 

 

Received on 03.07.2014                Modified on 25.07.2014

Accepted on 01.08.2014                © A&V Publication all right reserved