Abstract:
Background: First aid is the initial step in patient management which aims in saving lives of
injured victims. Nursing officers play an important role in this as frontline healthcare givers.
Objective: To assess the knowledge, practices and attitudes of first aid among nursing officers
in the Teaching Hospital Karapitiya (THK)
Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study done among 400 nursing officers in the
THK. Convenient sampling method was used to select the study participants. Data were
collected using a self-administered questionnaire which was developed by authors and pre tested for the reliability. The questionnaire consists of three aspects regarding the first aid such
as knowledge, practices and attitudes. A score was given for each part.
Results: The mean (±SD) knowledge, attitude and practice scores were 62.11 (±6.57), 26.60
(±3.90) and 53.32 (±7.63), respectively. Majority of the participants (n = 356, 88.5%) had
good overall knowledge on first aid. The participants had good knowledge on different types
of emergencies in different proportions; burn (89.7%), fractures (88%), seizures (97%) and
poisoning (73.3%). The practice was good only among 166 (41.5%) nurses. Participants
showed good practice in different emergencies; burn (49.3%), fractures (81.5%), seizures
(75.5%), and poisoning (71.8%). However, the attitude was moderate among majority of
nurses (n = 225, 56.3%).
Conclusion: The majority of the nurses had good knowledge on first aid while the practice and
attitude of first aid were moderate in most of the nurses in THK.
