Knowledge retention regarding First Aid: A comparison between trained and untrained medical students in Peshawar.

Objective: To compare the impact of formal training in terms of knowledge retention regarding First Aid among medical students of selected medical colleges in Peshawar, Pakistan. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Three Selected Public and Private Medical Colleges in Peshawar. Period: November 2018 to June 2019. Material & Methods: A total of 150 students out of whom 75 had received formal training of first aid program one year back and 75 were selected as a comparative group who had no training in this regards. Data were collected on an indigenous questionnaire which incorporates the knowledge about basic terminology and important step taken for dealing with the different medical emergencies as first aid providers. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 20. Chi-square test was used for comparing the frequency of correct answers and p-value <0.05 was significant. Results: Among 150 students 52(34.7%) were male and 98(65.3) female. A comparatively high proportion of 54 (72.0%) of trained medical students correctly marked the meaning of “First Aid” and “CPR” as compared to 38 (50.7%) of untrained students (p=0.042). however, there was no significant difference in terms of knowledge regarding important step taken for patients with cardiac arrest, bleeding, burn emergency, fracture, and frostbite (p>0.05). Conclusion: The regarding knowledge of first aid program were more or less similar among trained and untrained medical students. However, comparatively higher proportions of trained medical students were able to correctly define the term first aid and CPR.