Knowledge and practice of pre-hospital care after a road traffic injury among three-wheel drivers and associated factors in selected police areas in Colombo district.
Abstract
Abstract- Globally, the number of road
traffic deaths remains unacceptably high.
However, effective pre-hospital services can
minimize many crash consequences. Usually,
basic pre-hospital care is delivered by a lay
first responder, mostly another driver. The
aim of this study is to describe the knowledge
and practice of pre-hospital care after a road
traffic injury among three-wheel drivers and
associated factors in selected police areas in
Colombo district, Sri Lanka. A community
based descriptive cross-sectional study was
carried out in Kollupitiya, Bambalapitiya, and
Kirulapona police areas. A sample of 384
three-wheel drivers registered in above
police areas were recruited using simple
random sampling method. Structured pretested
interviewer administered
questionnaire was used for data collection.
Descriptive analysis was used to determine
level of knowledge and practices regarding
pre-hospital care. To identify the associated
factors for knowledge and practice chisquare
test was used. SPSS version 25 was
used for data entry and analysis. Ethical
approval was obtained from Ethics Review
Committee, Faculty of Medical Sciences,
University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Only
31.5% of the drivers had first aid training.
Even though majority (52.9%) of the drivers
had good knowledge, 65.2% had poor
practice towards pre-hospital care.
Advanced age and having a first aid training
were significantly associated with the good
knowledge (p<0.05). Drivers with a previous
first aid training within last ten years, having
less hires per day and having good
knowledge were significantly associated
with better first aid practice. Although
knowledge regarding pre-hospital care was
adequate, practice of pre-hospital care was
inadequate.