Burn first aid knowledge and its determinants among general population of Rawalpindi

Abstract

A significant limitation of knowledge regarding BFAT was seen among the general population of Rawalpindi.

Survey on Knowledge of First Aid Management of Burns Amongst Medical and Non-medical Students in Karachi, Pakistan: Need for an Educational Intervention?

“…Another study conducted in the United Kingdom reflected subpar knowledge of BFAT amongst healthcare workers [9]. The situation in Pakistan also follows this global streak, since our results were comparable with other studies conducted in Pakistan in terms of inadequate knowledge regarding BFAT [13][14].…”

“…Beliefs like puncturing them and application of toothpaste were common and need to be addressed in the future to get rid of common misconceptions, because such actions may exacerbate the initial injury. Contrary to the study of Mishra et al, where a majority of the participants (82.3%) knew the correct answer of removing jewelry and accessories from the burnt area, students in our survey responded poorly [13,16]. Less than half of medical students marked the right answer which is alarming and needs to be addressed since accessories not only get in the way of injury, but the following edema makes the future removal difficult and painful.…”

“…A majority of these studies have shown a lack of understanding and knowledge of BFAT in groups such as medical students and healthcare workers in the United Kingdom; the Saudi population; students in Nigeria; and adults in Australia [8][9][10][11][12]. A limited number of studies on this topic; however, have been carried out in Pakistan, where one study revealed an overall lack of knowledge of BFAT amongst the general population of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, while another study demonstrated inadequate knowledge in handling burns amongst parents of children suffering from burns [13][14]. Data has also further shown that factors such as the educational status of individuals, previous knowledge of first aid of burns, and having attended a first aid course/training are associated with higher levels of knowledge scores in the respective studies [11][12][13][14][15].…”

“…A limited number of studies on this topic; however, have been carried out in Pakistan, where one study revealed an overall lack of knowledge of BFAT amongst the general population of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, while another study demonstrated inadequate knowledge in handling burns amongst parents of children suffering from burns [13][14]. Data has also further shown that factors such as the educational status of individuals, previous knowledge of first aid of burns, and having attended a first aid course/training are associated with higher levels of knowledge scores in the respective studies [11][12][13][14][15]. This reflects that imparting the knowledge and basic training regarding BFAT should be a point of focus to not only students belonging to schools, colleges, and universities, but also to the general population.…”

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices toward First Aid Management of Skin Burns in Saudi Arabia

“…Treatments reported included 81.8% having applied water to the injured area, 72.3% having removed clothing or accessories from the area of injury, and 71 (51.8%) using ice to cool the injured area. Another study from Pakistan in Rawalpindi showed that toothpaste (47.5%) followed by cool running water (20.3%) were the two most frequently applied items following a burn injury [ 16 ], while in Nigeria, water lavage was used in 49 (29.2%) cases, raw eggs in 21 (12.5%), pap in 16 (9.5%) [ 17 ]. Similar to our findings, another study conducted in Saudi Arabia by Almutlaq et al 2020 [ 5 ] reported that most respondents used cold water or honey as post-burn therapy.…”