Pre-hospital care received by injured children less than five years admitted to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Colombo

Abstract

ObjectiveTo describe the pre-hospital care received by injured children less than five years admitted to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital and associated factors. MethodsA hospital based descriptive cross sectional study was carried out at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital accident ward. A sample of 400 pairs consisting of a pre-hospital care giver and child were recruited. Structured pre-tested interviewer administered questionnaire was used for data collection and descriptive analysis was used. ResultsMean age of the children and pre hospital care giver was 38 months (SD±13.27) and 32.8 years (SD±5.9) respectively. Majority 90.5% (N=362) of care givers were mothers and only 15.7% of had first aid training. However, most (60.5%) of care givers had good knowledge on first aid. First aid box with basic equipment was available for 56.8% injured children. Majority (59.3%) of children was transported within the golden hour and used three wheelers (57%). Although a majority (87.5%) of care givers had access to communication methods only 21.5% knew the emergency telephone number. ConclusionsCorrect first aid practice was significantly associated with first aid training of the care giver. Since most injured children were transported by three-wheelers, it is imperative to train three-wheeler drivers about how to transport injured children safely.