impact of first aid program on school nurses' knowledge in Menoufiya governorate

ABSTRACT

First aid is one of the important set of specific tasks of school nurses. Administering treatment for injuries ranging from minor to serious in nature is essential for school children. This study was carried out to evaluate the impact of an educational program about first aid measures on the knowledge of school nurses. The study was carried out on a randomly recruited [using multistage] sample of 100 school nurses working in Menoufiya Governorate schools. A structured questionnaire was used to assess nurses' knowledge about first aid. The questionnaire was used three times. The first was before program implementation to assess baseline data and educational needs, the second was immediately after program implementation. The third was 3 months after program implementation to assess nurses' retained knowledge. The findings revealed that nurse-to-school ratio ranged from 11 to 15 and Nurse-to-student ratio ranged from 1<1000 tol3000 or more. First aid equipments and supplies at schools were very-deficient as reported by school nurses. Commonly reported illnesses/complaints require first aid response were diabetes, epilepsy, abdominal pain. Commonly reported injuries were wound and bleeding, extremity fractures and sprain, epistaxis and suffocation. The majority of the nurses had low pre-test scores of knowledge about first aid items. The total pretest mean score was 29.70 +/- 4.54 out of 99. In the post-test, and retention test the scores increased significantly in all items, and the total mean score reached 76.98 +/- 3.98 and 65.43 +/- 3.57 respectively. It can be concluded that implemented program about first aid had a significant effect on nurses' knowledge about first aid. The study recommended that continuous education for school nurses are needed to help them to respond effectively to children illnesses and injuries