Knowledge attitude and practices of undergraduate students regarding first aid measures

Objectives: to assess knowledge, attitude and practices of first aid measures in undergraduate students of karachi. methods: a cross-sectional study was carried out at six colleges of karachi, three of which were medical colleges and three non-medical colleges. knowledge was assessed regarding various emergency situations with the help of a questionnaire. the target population size was 460, based on 50% prevalence and 95% confidence interval. the eventual sample size achieved was 446. results: a total of 446 students were interviewed. seventy eight students (17.5%) had formal first aid (fa) training. the mean number of correct answers of students with fa training was 10.3 (± 3.5) as opposed to 8.58 (± 4.0) in those without fa training (p<0.001, 95% ci) with a mean difference of 7.84%. the mean number of correct answers by medical students with fa training was 11.2 (± 2.9) as opposed to 7.2 (± 3.43) by non-medical students (p<0.001, 95% ci) with a mean difference of 18.14%. students having received formal first aid training scored better than those who had not (p<0.001). conclusion: first aid training programmes should be introduced at school and college level in developing countries to decrease the early mortality and morbidity of accidents and emergencies.