Awareness of Burn First Aid Management among Undergraduate Medical Students at a Medical College Teaching Hospital

Background First aid training, educational degree of health sector employee is linked to greater levels of knowledge, awareness and positive outcome in burn injury and its management but studies have shown insufficient level of awareness with unsatisfactory skills not only among professional healthcare workers but also in medical students. Objective To assess the knowledge and confidence of our medical students towards basic burn first aid and management. Method Cross sectional observational study was done using a structured, self-reported 16 multiple choice questionnaire with total marks of 30. Students was graded accordingly: more than 25 points: good, 16-25 points: satisfactory and less than 16 points: poor level of awareness about burn first aid management. Confidence in management of burn related victims, information on receiving of prior formal training in burns and sources of knowledge in students were also evaluated. Result Only a satisfactory level of awareness is seen in medical students 62.1%, 98.2% had not received any kind of formal training and the medical college curriculum was the main source of information (69.2%) followed by journals (47.1%) and internet (26%). 78.4% students felt that the curriculum provided to them was inadequate and only 5.3% students were confident in managing burn first aid. Conclusion There was inadequacy in the knowledge of burn first aid amongst undergraduate students therefore clinical course in managing burns into the undergraduate curriculum is vital.