Surveying the Knowledge of Prehospital Emergency Services Personnel of Rasht on Burn Management in 2018-2019

Burn injuries are one of the most important causes of disability and death, which can endanger health and also have severe economic and social consequences in human societies. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge of pre-hospital emergency personnel in Rasht, Iran, in dealing with burn patients in 2018-2019.

The present study was a cross-sectional-descriptive one, and the study population consisted of all pre-hospital emergency personnel in Rasht in 2018. The sampling method of the study was census and the tool used in the study was a questionnaire, which evaluated the demographic information of the personnel in the first part, and in the second part of the questionnaire, participants' awareness was assessed using 15 questions. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential tests and a significance level of p <0.05 was considered.

The majority of staff had between 10-20 years of work experience (33.7%), and in terms of education, most of them were undergraduates (44.2%). The majority had encountered burn cases (62.1%), and had underwent training in relation to burn injuries (69.1%). In terms of knowledge status, only 3.2% (3 people) had good knowledge (score above 10) and the majority had moderate knowledge (53.7%) or poor knowledge (43.2%).

Due to the fact that the level of knowledge was moderate in the majority of the studied pre-hospital emergency personnel, proper planning should be done to hold training courses.