Knowledge of first aid skills among medical and nonmedical students in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: First aid is the first treatment a health care worker provides at the site of an accident to a patient who is injured or very sick before the ambulance arrives. First aid providers are those who have the skill and knowledge to deal with life-threatening conditions outside the facilitated environment of a hospital. This study aims to assess the knowledge of first aid among university students in Saudi Arabia. METHODOLOGY: An observational descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from 17 August 2018 until 2 February 2019 on Saudi universities' students, including medical and nonmedical students and excluding postgraduate. The sample size was 384 students using a cluster sampling technique. The questionnaire was developed specifically for the purpose of this study after searching the literature and consulting an epidemiologist. It contains questions that assess the level of knowledge regarding first aid. It was subjected to a prop to test for validity and liability. Data were analyzed using (SPSS, version 22.0) and (P values of ≤ 0.05) considered significant. The consent was obtained before data collection. RESULT: Only 40.35% (157/389) of the total participants had basic life support (BLS) course in their college syllabus. Good knowledge was generally observed in both medical (61.2%) and nonmedical (53.2%) student participants. Medical students' knowledge regarding first aid was better than nonmedical students in all questions, whereas the results were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Medical students were more familiar with the knowledge of first aid than other colleges' students. Researches should investigate the willingness of medical students to apply their first aid knowledge when necessary using a health belief model.