First aid practices, beliefs, and sources of information among caregivers regarding paediatric burn injuries in Harare, Zimbabwe: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundWhile burns take seconds to occur, injuries incurred result in pain and undesirable long term effects that might take a lifetime to overcome. The study was carried out to determine the measures of first aid delivered by caregivers after a burn injury and sources of the information. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out over a period of 3 months at two central hospitals in Harare. A questionnaire was administered to the caregivers of children within the age group of 0-60 months admitted in burns wards to elicit information on the circumstances of the burn injury and the first aid methods which were administered. Results Out of the 50 children who were recruited, 54.0% were females and the mean age was 29.5 months (SD= 15.5). After the burn injury 30(60.0%) of the caregivers, cooled the burn injury with cold running water whilst some caregivers also applied eggs, margarine and some traditional herbs as first aid. The other practices reported by the caregivers included use of urine and crushed cockroaches after burn injury in 40 (80.0%) whilst 20 (40.0%) reported used aloe vera gel after a burn injury. About half of the caregivers got first aid information mainly from family members and very few indicated that the information was obtained from mass media, 3 (6.0%). ConclusionsThe first aid measures used by the majority of caregivers were either incomplete or inadequate. Although some caregivers had adequate knowledge of what to do after an injury, there still was widespread use of alternatives therapies in burn management. Original ResearchFirst aid practices, beliefs, and sources of information among caregivers regarding paediatric burn injuries in Harare, Zimbabwe: A cross-sectional study

First Aid Practices and Health-Seeking Behaviors of Caregivers for Unintentional Childhood Injuries in Ujjain, India: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…In our study, most children with burns (86%) received some form of first aid. This proportion is comparable to those reported in studies conducted in Zimbabwe and Bangladesh [ 9 , 18 ]. In our study, the lowest proportion of children who received first aid was for nonfatal drowning and suffocation injuries ( Table 2 ).…”

“…Timely and appropriate treatment of injuries can help reduce injury-related mortality and morbidity [ 8 , 9 ]. However, data on childhood injuries and response to injuries by caregivers of children from LMICs, particularly South Asia and India, are lacking [ 5 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Globally, studies evaluating first aid knowledge and practices are often conducted in patients with burn or trauma and are most often hospital-based [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ].…”

First Aid Practices and Health Seeking Of Caregivers for Unintentional Childhood Injuries in Ujjain, India: A Community Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…In our study the maximum 86% of children with burns received some first aid. This proportion is comparable to studies from Zimbabwe and Bangladesh [9,18]. The lowest proportion of children that received first aid was of non-fatal drowning and suffocation (Table 2) in our study.…”

“…Also, some of the methods like use of toothpaste can result in wound infection in burns and can cause more harm. Similar alternative therapies have been reported as common practice after a burn injury in other African countries like Ghana, South Africa and Nigeria [10,13,18]. Some substances commonly used for first aid for burns reported from other studies are included raw egg whites, butter, milk, cooking oil, potato slices, yoghurt, toothpaste, tomato paste, ice, and chalk papaya, chalk, and salt, from countries like Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, South Africa, Turkey and United Kingdom [10,13,18,19,23,40,45], many of these were not reported in our study, reflecting the need for context specific studies to improve pre hospital management of injuries.…”

“…It is well known that timely and appropriate treatment of injuries can help reduce mortality and morbidity [8,9]. However, there is paucity of data on childhood injuries and response to injuries by caregivers of children from low and middle income countries especially from South Asia and India [5,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Worldwide studies evaluating the first-aid knowledge and practices are commonly done on burn and trauma patients and are hospital based [19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”