Female School Teachers' First Aid Knowledge in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Introduction

First aid is immediate help provided to a sick or injured person until professional help arrives. It is concerned not only with physical injury or illness but also with other initial care which includes psychosocial support for people suffering emotional distress caused by experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event [1]. In another word, first aid is a timely response to emergencies and provides immediate care to injured people.

Historical background: On 24 June 1859, Henry Dunant, a young Geneva businessman, witnessed horrifying suffering and agony following the battle of Solferino. He mobilized the civilian population, mainly women and girls, to care for the wounded irrespective of their role in the conflict. He secured them with the necessary materials and supplies and helped in the establishment of temporary hospitals. His book “A Memory of Solferino” inspired the establishment of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 1863. Today, the need for humanitarian action is still as vital as it was in 1859. For the past 100 years until now providing first aid services to injured people was one of the important services provided by the Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers and now it became the core activity of their practice [2].

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Basic First aid knowledge and practice are extremely important to save lives and help the victim before the situation worsens. Also, it encourages healthy and safe living by providing relive and ensuring better safety to the victim. Therefore, the knowledge about first aid must be a priority as matter of human responsibility.

Clearly, everyone should be aware of first aid practice to prevent victim suffering or even death with a simple intervention. First aid training is essential to provide self-confidence and ensuring that the right methods of administering medical assistance are followed. A trained person will be conversant, and able to evaluate the situation to take immediate action in case of emergency, for that first aid training and practice to deal with most conditions in daily life is better than retaining knowledge and skills without application [3].

Schools are the most common place where an accident could take a place and students spend a considerable amount of their time in the school. Teachers are the first people who can look after students and provide a safe environment. As far as we know, student, especially in young age, are more prone to simple daily accidents. Teachers always should be alert and able to deal with simple cases, perform proper first aid if needed without having to wait for professional help. The majority of teachers have a few knowledge of first aid that needs more reading, practice and administration of first aid services in real life situations to indicate positive attitudes in regards to first aid provision, first aid facilities improvement at schools surveyed, through providing fully equipped first aid tools, a separate sick room to emergencies situations, posters outlining first aid procedures for management of medical emergencies, and videos for clarification first aid practices. All these procedures must be followed to make schools safer environment for children [4]. A study found that teachers who had knowledge and information about first aid did not have confidence to practice in case an emergency arises [5]. The levels of knowledge of pre-school teachers working in the province center of Isparta (Turkey) was evaluated and was found that they had inadequate knowledge about first-aid training, the quality of receiving good knowledge and training is essential [6]. Another study found that most of school teachers had lack of knowledge and training about emergency care and Basic Life Support (BLS). Help of emergency medical providers to the teachers is the solution since they represent the first-responder in [7].

The concept of first aid does not get enough attention in school environment, and that seems to be a common problem, and there are many factors affecting the knowledge of first aid among school teachers. A study conducted among kindergarten teachers in Lideta sub-city Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, found that the factors affected on the knowledge of kindergarten teachers for first aid were: Ages older than 35 years were more knowledgeable about first aid compared to those who were 25 and younger, Kindergarten teachers who had five to ten years’ or more than ten years of experience of work were have more knowledge than those teachers who had less than five years’ experience, Type of work place showed that teachers who are working in private kindergarten had more knowledge and information than teachers who works in governmental kindergarten, Teachers who had previous first aid training were more knowledgeable than those without training, As well as teachers who obtained first aid information from health professionals or health institutes were more knowledgeable than those who got the information from other sources [8].

Many of accidents and disease related conditions/complications can occur in schools. This includes cases such as: (Nose bleeding, chocking, open Wounds injuries, exposure to chemicals) and different health situation (Epilepsy, Asthma, diabetes, hyper/hypotension) due to various environmental, hereditary and other factors.

Teachers are often faced with challenge of responding to the attack and providing first aid knowledge and skills. Misconceptions and a lack of knowledge of disease management contribute to continued misbehavior with students suffering from the diseases. In Nigeria, interventional study assessed the importance and effectiveness of increasing health education and helping epilepsy cases by examining trainee teachers about their knowledge and attitudes towards epilepsy. They received health education comprising an hour and a half epilepsy lecture followed by discussion, resulting in the first aid management skill. This emphasizes the potential benefit of health education for epilepsy into teachers' training curricula [9]. Female school teachers in Makkah suffer from inadequate knowledge and training of first aid that's required in children with epilepsy [10]. A study showed that in Ethiopian culture they realize that evil spirit and insanity are better treated by religious remedies than with medical treatments. Therefore, they heal epilepsy remedies by Holy water and Church healing sessions which explains why a high percentage of teachers in Addis Ababa recognized epilepsy as a psychiatric disorder linked to insanity [11].

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus is one of the most common chronic diseases in children. The level of knowledge about diabetic management differs from teacher to another depending on pervious experiences, teachers with pervious knowledge and practice showed a much higher level of knowledge than other teachers [12].

The importance of a first-aid training program was studied in specific schools of Bangalore. Correct knowledge and management of first aid among teachers was given by a structured teaching program on first aid management. The analysis of the study showed improvement in knowledge among teachers after allocating structured teaching program [13]. In another study among Iranian teachers’ in Kashan city, it was found that most of them have not passed first aid training and they answered the questions wrong regarding first aid. Training programs on first aid was recommended for teachers training [14].

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has developed guidelines on school asthma management. Many studies in United States of America reported that most of school teachers did not know about the rules of asthma management and they relied on nurses to handle emergency situations in schools. They found that future research should focus on teachers training as per NHLBI guidelines to enhance asthma management in schools [15]. A study clarified that most of teachers in Spanish schools knows about management of asthma, and half of them considered that they would know how to deal with asthma attack. Their study emphasized the necessity of knowing training requirements in order to establish plans for intervention in emergency situations in schools [16].

Since many accidents occur in schools and students probably can't deal with it and some of these incidents can be pretty serious and needs fast intervention, there must be a qualified person with basic knowledge on first aid and Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) practice and this person should be present daily at school. Teachers are the most people attached to students through the school day, so, teacher's awareness about first aid skills and their ability to practice is extremely important to make the school environment safer for students.

Studies conducted on teachers' knowledge of first aid in Saudi Arabia are limited. Our study is concerned about knowledge, and practice of first aid among female teachers in Saudi Arabia.

The findings can be used to determine the current status of first aid practice among teachers in schools and identify the obstacles they are facing to conduct appropriate first aid intervention in case of emergency. It can also be used as a reference for different bodies like (ministry of health, Saudi Red Crescent Authority) to provide an appropriate solution to lack of first aid knowledge.

Our project therefore aims to measure teachers' knowledge regarding first aid and enhance awareness amongst teachers to learn first aid skills, in schools of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

References

1. European First Aid Guidelines, Resuscitation, Volume 72, Issue 2, Pages 240-251 (February 2007) developed on behalf of the European First Aid Manual project by the Belgian Red Cross-Flanders 1
2. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
3. Bianca Reveruzzi, Lisa Buckley, Mary Sheehan, School-Based First Aid Training Programs: A Systematic ReviewApril 2016, Vol. 86, No. 4
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