First aid awareness among non-medical staff of armed forces hospitals in Taif region

A BSTRACT Background: Awareness of the first aid and having the basics knowledge about it among medical, as well as non-medical staff will contribute in saving millions of lives. Objective: To determine the level of awareness of first aid among the non-medical staff. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of 6 months, using a pre-tested and validated questionnaire among a representative sample of non-medical staff working at Al-Taif Armed Forces hospitals, Western Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire composed of two main sections (personal information of the study participants and assessment of awareness about first aid composed of 13 items) was used in data collection. Results: A total of 166 non-medical staff members were included in the study. Majority of them (98.2%) aged between 20 and 50 years and 86.7% were males. Overall, more than half of the participants (54.2%) had poor level of awareness about first aid while only 17.5% of them expressed good level of awareness. Among studied factors, the only one significantly associated with level of first aid knowledge was the working hospital as non-medical staff of Al-Hada Armed Forces hospital were less knowledgeable about first aid than others, P = 0.007. Conclusion: The level of awareness of the first aid among the non-medical staff of armed forces hospitals In Al-Taif region ranges from poor to average. Therefore, organizing regular first aid refresher courses to ensure continuous knowledge retention and skill development for non-medical staff is highly recommended.