First Aid of Minor Ailments:Knowledge of Primary School Teachers

Introduction: Children are very active and curious. They spend most of their active time at school and are at risk for injuries and sickness. School teachers are responsible to take care of them at school. Knowledge of first aid will help the school teachers to treat the children at school.

Objective: To assess the knowledge of primary school teachers regarding first aid for common ailments.

Methodology: A descriptive study to assess the knowledge of primary school teachers regarding first aid for common ailments in children was conducted in selected Primary schools at Mangalore. Convenient sampling technique was used to select 100 primary school teachers from 4 schools. Data was gathered through structured knowledge questionnaire.

Results: The results mainly found that 26% teachers had inadequate level of knowledge, 71% had moderately adequate level of knowledge, 3% had an adequate level of knowledge on first aid. The Association between knowledge score and demographic variables was assessed by using chi-square. There was no significant association found between any of the demographic variables and knowledge level of primary school teachers on first aid.

Conclusion: It is concluded that primary school teachers lack knowledge on first aid. Study recommends that the primary school teachers must undergo training in first aid to treat the common ailments in children at school.