TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of Knowledge, Skills, and Preparedness of General-Duty Police on Prehospital Care of Road Traffic Accident Victims in Abuja, Nigeria
AU - Ogunyemi, Kehinde
AU - Venkatraman, Chinmayee
AU - Malolan, Chenchita
AU - Olaomi, Oluwole
AU - Nwariaku, Fiemu E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.
PY - 2023/10/14
Y1 - 2023/10/14
N2 - Objectives: Prompt prehospital care (PHC) is essential for improving outcomes of road traffic accident victims. Previous studies in Nigeria show that little or no PHC is delivered to trauma victims by first responders. This study was conducted to assess police officers' experience with FA/BLS, to identify gaps in their FA/BLS knowledge and skills, and assess police stations' FA/BLS equipment capacity for PHC of road traffic accident victims. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 428 GD police in Abuja between November and December 2018. Respondents were selected using stratified random sampling with proportional allocation method. Data were collected using self-administered electronic semi-structured questionnaires. Data analysis was done using STATA v 14.0 (StataCorp, College Station, TX). Chi-square and multivariate logistic regression were used to assess associations. Results: We analyzed data from 419 respondents. Almost all (90.2%) of the police were aware of FA/BLS. The proportion of police with poor, fair, and good knowledge and skills on FA/BLS were 15.3%, 79.0%, and 5.7%, respectively. Tertiary (OR = 3.35, 95% CI: 1.01-11.11, P = 0.048) and postgraduate (OR = 6.89, 95% CI: 1.63-29.19, P = 0.009) levels of education had statistically significant association with good knowledge and skills. Conclusion: This highlights the need to implement an educational intervention to increase FA/BLS competencies within the first responder population.
AB - Objectives: Prompt prehospital care (PHC) is essential for improving outcomes of road traffic accident victims. Previous studies in Nigeria show that little or no PHC is delivered to trauma victims by first responders. This study was conducted to assess police officers' experience with FA/BLS, to identify gaps in their FA/BLS knowledge and skills, and assess police stations' FA/BLS equipment capacity for PHC of road traffic accident victims. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 428 GD police in Abuja between November and December 2018. Respondents were selected using stratified random sampling with proportional allocation method. Data were collected using self-administered electronic semi-structured questionnaires. Data analysis was done using STATA v 14.0 (StataCorp, College Station, TX). Chi-square and multivariate logistic regression were used to assess associations. Results: We analyzed data from 419 respondents. Almost all (90.2%) of the police were aware of FA/BLS. The proportion of police with poor, fair, and good knowledge and skills on FA/BLS were 15.3%, 79.0%, and 5.7%, respectively. Tertiary (OR = 3.35, 95% CI: 1.01-11.11, P = 0.048) and postgraduate (OR = 6.89, 95% CI: 1.63-29.19, P = 0.009) levels of education had statistically significant association with good knowledge and skills. Conclusion: This highlights the need to implement an educational intervention to increase FA/BLS competencies within the first responder population.
KW - Nigeria
KW - first aid
KW - police
KW - prehospital care
KW - road traffic injuries
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U2 - 10.1017/dmp.2022.196
DO - 10.1017/dmp.2022.196
M3 - Article
C2 - 36239254
AN - SCOPUS:85146629596
SN - 1935-7893
VL - 17
JO - Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness
JF - Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness
IS - 5
M1 - e247
ER -