To evaluate the knowledge and attitude regarding management of acute poisoning amongst the emergency medical professionals in Pune, India

Abstract

Introduction: Poison is any substance, which causes ill effects, or death when inhaled, ingested or injected in living cells. Emergency Medical Professionals working in Ambulances play a very important role in initial management of poisoning. Hence, it is imperative that the EMS professionals should have requisite knowledge and possess the right attitude to be effective caregivers in cases of poisoning. Objective: To evaluate the Knowledge and attitude regarding management of Acute Poisoning amongst the Emergency Medical Professional in Pune, India. Methodology: The study was conducted amongst 170 Emergency Medical Professionals in Pune, India. The eighteen-item questionnaire comprised of two key parameters – eight items testing Knowledge and ten items measuring Attitude. Each item on the questionnaire required a binary response. All items were required to be mandatorily filled. Discussion: The study evaluated the knowledge and attitude of the EMS professionals in initial management of cases of acute poisoning. Majority of the respondents possessed the right general knowledge about poisoning except that most felt that it was more important to treat the poison rather than patient but could not correctly differentiate between the early stage and late stage symptom of poisoning. Conclusion: The study attempts to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of the EMS responders in acute poisoning and provides with significant areas with scope of improvement that can guide educators to accordingly tailor the teaching curriculum of the subject of poisoning.