Objectives: Prompt prehospital care (PHC) is essential for improving outcomes of road traffic accident victims. Previous studies in Nigeria show that little or no PHC is delivered to trauma victims by first responders. This study was conducted to assess police officers' experience with FA/BLS, to identify gaps in their FA/BLS knowledge and skills, and assess police stations' FA/BLS equipment capacity for PHC of road traffic accident victims.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 428 GD police in Abuja between November and December 2018. Respondents were selected using stratified random sampling with proportional allocation method. Data were collected using self-administered electronic semi-structured questionnaires. Data analysis was done using STATA v 14.0 (StataCorp, College Station, TX). Chi-square and multivariate logistic regression were used to assess associations.
Results: We analyzed data from 419 respondents. Almost all (90.2%) of the police were aware of FA/BLS. The proportion of police with poor, fair, and good knowledge and skills on FA/BLS were 15.3%, 79.0%, and 5.7%, respectively. Tertiary (OR = 3.35, 95% CI: 1.01-11.11, P = 0.048) and postgraduate (OR = 6.89, 95% CI: 1.63-29.19, P = 0.009) levels of education had statistically significant association with good knowledge and skills.
Conclusion: This highlights the need to implement an educational intervention to increase FA/BLS competencies within the first responder population.
Keywords: Nigeria; first aid; police; prehospital care; road traffic injuries.