| dc.description.abstract | Road traffic injury (RTI) is a leading cause of death in Sri Lanka. Prompt first-aid and
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can minimize the lethal consequences in RTI.
Traffic police officers, who are trained on first-aid and CPR, can play a pivotal role
in providing first-aid and CPR for the victims in RTI. This study aimed to examine
the knowledge and practices on first-aid and CPR in RTI among traffic police officers
in selected police divisions in Colombo district, Sri Lanka. A descriptive crosssectional
study was conducted among 148 traffic police officers with minimum one
year work experience from three police divisions in Colombo district. A pre-tested
self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. In total, 55 and 24 marks
were allocated for knowledge and practice sections respectively. Overall score of 0-
49% was considered poor, 50% - 74% as good and 75% and above as excellent. The
response rate was 67%. Mean age was 28 (SD= ±6.4). From the total sample, 95%
(n=141) was male and 5% (n=7) was female. The results showed, 31.1% (n=46),
52.7% (n=78) and 16.2% (n=24) had excellent, good and poor knowledge
respectively. However, 90.5% (n=134) and 9.5% (n=14) had poor and good practice
respectively. None of them had excellent practice on first-aid and CPR. Although
good level of knowledge was identified, practice in performing first-aid and CPR was
poor. It is recommended to plan necessary training programmes by police
authorities to improve skills in first-aid and CPR for traffic police officers. | en_US |
