{"title":"Prehospital Emergency Care: A Cross-Sectional Survey of First-Aid Preparedness Among Layperson First Responders in Northern Uganda.","authors":"Keneth Opiro, Derrick Amone, Margret Sikoti, Amos Wokorach, Jerom Okot, Felix Bongomin","doi":"10.2147/OAEM.S464793","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Uganda has a high incidence of road traffic accidents and high mortality rates, yet lacks a mature prehospital emergency care system. Our study addresses this gap by assessing the experiences, training, and confidence in providing first aid (FA) among diverse layperson first responders in Northern Uganda, expanding beyond previous research, which was limited to Central Uganda and specific occupational groups.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a cross-sectional survey among layperson first responders of various occupations in Gulu City, Acholi sub-region, Uganda. Data on socio-demographics, training, experiences, knowledge, and confidence in FA were collected.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We included 396 participants, of whom 81.6% (n=323) were male, 47.0.6% (n=186) were aged 21-30 years, 59.3% (n=235) had obtained a secondary level of education, 23.7% (n=94) were commercial motorcyclists, and 45.7% (n=181) had work experience of >5 years. The majority (85.4%, n=338) had witnessed acute illness/trauma. Accidents/bleeding were the most commonly witnessed cases (68.6%, n=232), followed by burn injuries (10.1%, n=34). Most participants (52.3%, n=207) had attended FA training. Only 20.5% (n=81) had obtained an above-average score (≥70%). The majority (67.9%, n=269) were confident in providing FA. Lack of knowledge and skills (61.4%, n=78), fear of taking health risks (18.9%, n=24), and legal implications (7.1%, n=9) were the major reasons for not being willing to confidently give FA. Factors associated with above-average knowledge were tertiary education and being confident in providing FA, while training in FA and prior experience in giving FA were associated with confidence in giving FA.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>In this study, laypeople in Northern Uganda exhibited a high level of FA training. However, low confidence in providing FA is attributed to inadequate knowledge, fear of health risks, and legal concerns. Therefore, future efforts should focus on assessing FA practices in diverse regions and promoting formal FA training.</p>","PeriodicalId":45096,"journal":{"name":"Open Access Emergency Medicine","volume":"16 ","pages":"191-202"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11268844/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Open Access Emergency Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2147/OAEM.S464793","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"EMERGENCY MEDICINE","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
Background: Uganda has a high incidence of road traffic accidents and high mortality rates, yet lacks a mature prehospital emergency care system. Our study addresses this gap by assessing the experiences, training, and confidence in providing first aid (FA) among diverse layperson first responders in Northern Uganda, expanding beyond previous research, which was limited to Central Uganda and specific occupational groups.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey among layperson first responders of various occupations in Gulu City, Acholi sub-region, Uganda. Data on socio-demographics, training, experiences, knowledge, and confidence in FA were collected.
Results: We included 396 participants, of whom 81.6% (n=323) were male, 47.0.6% (n=186) were aged 21-30 years, 59.3% (n=235) had obtained a secondary level of education, 23.7% (n=94) were commercial motorcyclists, and 45.7% (n=181) had work experience of >5 years. The majority (85.4%, n=338) had witnessed acute illness/trauma. Accidents/bleeding were the most commonly witnessed cases (68.6%, n=232), followed by burn injuries (10.1%, n=34). Most participants (52.3%, n=207) had attended FA training. Only 20.5% (n=81) had obtained an above-average score (≥70%). The majority (67.9%, n=269) were confident in providing FA. Lack of knowledge and skills (61.4%, n=78), fear of taking health risks (18.9%, n=24), and legal implications (7.1%, n=9) were the major reasons for not being willing to confidently give FA. Factors associated with above-average knowledge were tertiary education and being confident in providing FA, while training in FA and prior experience in giving FA were associated with confidence in giving FA.
Conclusion: In this study, laypeople in Northern Uganda exhibited a high level of FA training. However, low confidence in providing FA is attributed to inadequate knowledge, fear of health risks, and legal concerns. Therefore, future efforts should focus on assessing FA practices in diverse regions and promoting formal FA training.
背景：乌干达的道路交通事故发生率高、死亡率高，但却缺乏成熟的院前急救系统。我们的研究通过评估乌干达北部各种非专业急救人员在提供急救（FA）方面的经验、培训和信心，弥补了这一空白，超越了以往仅限于乌干达中部和特定职业群体的研究：我们对乌干达阿乔利次地区古卢市不同职业的非专业急救人员进行了横断面调查。我们收集了有关社会人口统计学、培训、经验、知识以及对 FA 的信心等方面的数据：我们共纳入了 396 名参与者，其中 81.6% （n=323）为男性，47.0.6% （n=186）年龄在 21-30 岁之间，59.3% （n=235）受过中等教育，23.7% （n=94）是商用摩托车驾驶员，45.7% （n=181）有 5 年以上的工作经验。大多数人（85.4%，n=338）曾目睹急性疾病/创伤。事故/出血是最常见的目击病例（68.6%，n=232），其次是烧伤（10.1%，n=34）。大多数参与者（52.3%，n=207）参加过 FA 培训。只有 20.5%（81 人）获得了高于平均水平的分数（≥70%）。大多数（67.9%，n=269）对提供 FA 有信心。缺乏知识和技能（61.4%，人数=78）、害怕承担健康风险（18.9%，人数=24）和法律影响（7.1%，人数=9）是不愿意自信地提供 FA 的主要原因。与高于平均水平的知识相关的因素是高等教育和对提供 FA 有信心，而 FA 培训和提供 FA 的经验则与提供 FA 的信心相关：在这项研究中，乌干达北部的非专业人士接受过高水平的 FA 培训。结论：在这项研究中，乌干达北部的非专业人员接受过较高水平的 FA 培训，但对提供 FA 的信心不足，原因在于知识不足、担心健康风险和法律顾虑。因此，今后的工作重点应放在评估不同地区的 FA 实践和促进正规的 FA 培训上。
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