Comparative Analysis of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of First Aid among Private and Public School Teachers of Karachi

Abstract

Objective: This study assesses first-aid facilities within school premises and assessment of teach- ers on first aid training. The objective was to assess and compare the first aid knowledge, attitude and practice among teachers from both public and private sector of some schools in Karachi.

Methods: The study was cross-sectional and was conducted from March 2018 to September 2019. All participants were included after the informed consent and all of them were full-time teachers from both public and private sector schools. All of them were below 70 years and had minimum one year experience at least. Data was collected through the questionnaire method.

Results: Total 384 teachers were included, out of which, 106 were from the public sector and 278 from the private sector. Also, 53% of public and 54% of private- sector teachers had performed first aid in their professional life. Only 27% of public and 40% private teachers think that they are able to handle emergency situations and have enough first aid knowledge. Out of all the teachers partici- pated in, only 27% of public sector teachers think that they have sufficient knowledge regarding first aid, that they can handle emergency situation on their own. On the other hand, 40% of private-sector teachers have enough first aid knowledge to handle emergency cases on their own in schools.

Conclusion: Knowledge and attitude regarding first aid training and management is unsatisfactory among the teachers at schools in Karachi. Public sector school teachers have a poor understanding of knowledge and practice of first aid as compared to the private sector. Although not enough but pri- vate sector schools do recognize the importance of first aid training more than public sector schools.