The study included 252 students from the Syrian Private University of various specializations. Below we review some characteristics of the sample according to demographic variables and study variables that measure students' awareness of first aid for burns.
Patients' ages ranged between 18 and 28 years, with an average of 22.08 years, but their overall ages deviated from the mean by 2.276 ± years.
Approximately two thirds of the sample are females (165 female students), or 65.5% of the sample, compared to one third of the sample are males (87 male students), representing 34.5% of the sample. The largest percentage of students are single, as their percentage reached 81.7% of the sample (206 students), while the related percentage was 10.7% (27 students), and only 7.5% of the sample are married (19 students).
More than half of the sample had a good economic level, i.e., sufficient to secure basic needs with some luxuries, and their percentage was 58.7% of the sample (148 students), which is the largest group, followed by students whose economic level is excellent that ensures comfort and luxury, and their percentage is 20.6% (52 students), then the students whose level is The average economic level is sufficient to meet the basic needs of the family, and their percentage is 17.9% of the sample (45 students). As for the students whose economic level is low and not sufficient to meet the basic needs of the family, their percentage is 2.8% of the sample (7 students).
The largest proportion of fathers were university graduates with a rate of 45.6% (115 fathers), followed by those who had studied up to secondary school with a rate of 15.9% (40 fathers), then those who obtained a master’s degree with 12.3% (31 fathers), then those who could read and write at a rate of 11.5% (29 fathers). A father), then those who attended an intermediate institute and their percentage was 7.9% (20 fathers), then those who obtained a doctorate and their percentage was 6.3% (16 fathers), while those who could not read and write their percentage was only 0.4% (one father).
The largest percentage of mothers are university graduates, and their percentage is 37.7% (95 mothers), followed by those who studied until high school with 27.8% (70 mothers), then those who are able to read and write with a rate of 13.9% (35 mothers), then those who studied an intermediate institute with 9.9% (25 mothers), then those who obtained a master's degree and their percentage was 5.2% (13 mothers), then those who obtained a doctorate and their percentage was 3.2% (8 mothers), while those who could not read and write their percentage was only 2.4% (6 mothers).
Nearly half of the sample, ie 50.4% of them (127 students) have a family member working in the medical field, compared to 49.6% (125) who have no family member working in the medical field. 87.3% of the sample (220 students) are students in medical colleges, either human medicine, dentistry, or pharmacy, compared to 12.7% of them (32 students) who are students of information and communications engineering, petroleum engineering, or business administration.
Medical students constituted 63.5% of the sample (160 students), while the rest of the students, or 36.5%, are students of other specialties at the Syrian Private University.
Students of other disciplines (other than human medicine) were distributed to 21.7% (20 students) dental students, 43.5% (40 students) pharmacy students, 18.5% (17 students) information and communication engineering students, 3.3% (3 students) petroleum engineering students and 13% (12 students) of them are business administration students.
The percentage of first-year students from all disciplines was 9.9% of the sample (25 students), while the percentage of second-year students was 15.9% (40 students), and the percentage of third-year students was 5.2% (13 students), and in the fourth they were 13.1% (33 students). And in the fifth year, they represented 29.8% (75 students), while the sixth year students represented 26.2% of the sample (66 students), or nearly a quarter of the sample.
17.5% of the sample (242 students) chose hot water as one of the causes of burns, 13.3% of them (184 students) chose steam, 16.4% (227 students) chose chemicals, 2.9% (40 students) chose rubber and leather, 3% of them (41 Students) chose paint, 17.1% (236 students) chose fire, 16% (221 students) chose electricity and 13.8% of the sample (190 students) chose radiation as one of the causes of burns. Knowing that the causes of burns are hot water, steam, chemicals, fire, electricity and radiation
The most common place on the body for burns to occur, according to the opinion of the students of the Syrian Private University, is the upper extremities, where the percentage of students who voted for that was 39.7% (100 students), followed by the palm of the hand, where 39.3% of the students (99 students) voted for that, then the face and neck where they voted 10.7% of them (27 students), then the front face of the torso and the percentage of those who voted for that 6.7% (17 students), then the lower extremities and the percentage of those who voted for that 3.2% (8 students), and only 0.4% of the students (1 student) found that The genitals are the most common place on the body for burns to occur
While more than half of the sample find that the most dangerous place on the body where burns occur is the face and neck, 54.4% (137 students), 36.5% (92 students) find that the genitals are the most dangerous place for burns, 4.4% (11 students) choose the face The anterior torso and 2% (5 students) chose the palm, 1.6% (4 students) chose the back of the torso and 1.2% (3 students) chose the upper extremities as the most dangerous place in the body where burns occur
The largest percentage of students, 86.9% of them (219 students) find that the kitchen is the most common place for burns incidents, and this may be due to the use of fire and burning materials constantly and the lack of awareness to follow safety procedures in the kitchen, compared to 7.9% of them (20 students) who chose the workplace, and 2 5% (5 students) chose the bathroom, 1.2% (3 students) chose the bedrooms, and 2% of the students (5 students) did not know which place is the most common place for burns to occur.
70.2% of the students (177 students) find that the duration of exposure to the agent causing the burn is the most important factor contributing to the severity of the burn and this is true, compared to 13.1% of them (33 students) who chose the time between exposure and treatment, 10.7% of them chose the method of care provided (17 students) ), and 2% of the students (5 students) chose the educational level of the caregiver, while 4% of them (10 students) did not know which of the above factors is the most important factor contributing to the severity of the burn
More than half of the sample i.e. 54.4% of them (137 students) find that cooling the burning area with running tap water is the first step that should be taken when a burn occurs and this is true, 27.8% of them (70 students) chose to remove any clothing or accessories as a first step that should be taken when a burn occurs Burn, 7.5% (19 students) choose to seek medical care, 4% (10 students) choose to put a clean dressing on the burn, 1.6% (4 students) choose to put the burn area in a bowl of water, 1.2% (3 students) choose to put ice, 0.8% (2 students) chose to put honey or toothpaste on the burn site, while 2.8% of the students (7 students) did not know what the first step to take when a burn occurred.
The ideal time for cooling the burner is 20 minutes and only 9.1% of the students (23 students) answered that, while 23.8% of them (60 students) find that 5 minutes is the ideal time for cooling the burn, 17.9% (45 students) chose 10 minutes as sufficient time, 23.4% (59 students) chose 15 minutes as sufficient time and 4.4% (11 students) find that cooling the incinerator needs 30 minutes, compared to 21.4% (54 students) who do not know what is the ideal time to cool the incinerator.
41.7% of the students (105 students) answered that the correct behavior when seeing a burning person is to ask him to stand and throw himself on the ground and roll over, 35.3% of them (89 students) chose to put a cover on the person to put out the fire, 7.9% chose to call an ambulance only Without any other measures, 11.5% of them (29 students) chose to throw water at the person who was burning, compared to 3.6% of the students (9 students) who did not know what to do when they saw someone on fire.
81.3% of the students (205 students) did not receive any training or attend workshops regarding burn management, compared to 18.7% of them (47 students) who received training on that.
As for the students’ evaluation of their skills in providing first aid to the burn victim, we note that only 0.8% of the students (two students) have high skill, 17.1% of them (43 students) have good skill, 35.3% of them (89 students) have medium skill, 37.7% Of them (95 students) have little skill, compared to 9.1% of the students (23 students) who do not have any skill about providing first aid to a burn victim.
We note that educational institutions were the largest source of knowledge in first aid with the vote of 32.4% of students (102 students), then the Internet, as was the opinion of 22.9% of students (72 students), then books and articles by 8.9% of students (28 students), then Colleagues or family members by 8.6% (27 students), as for television and workshops, the percentage of students who chose them as a source of knowledge was 6% (19 students) for each, and 8.3% of students (26 students) had other sources, compared to 7% of students (22 students) They have no knowledge
The students’ awareness degrees about first aid for burns ranged between 1 and 8 with an average of 4.79 degrees, but their scores in total may deviate from the average by 1.467 ±
When comparing the degree of awareness between males and females, the average score for males was (4.61), while for females was (4.88), without statistically significant differences (P-value > 0.05).
The degree of awareness was also compared with the educational level of both the father and the mother, where the average scores of fathers who were not able to read and write was lower than the rest of the levels. (P-value > 0.05)
When comparing the degree of awareness with the economic level, there was a statistical significance in the average degrees of awareness of first aid for burns between the group of students with a low economic level and each of the groups with a medium, good and excellent economic level, where the average degree of awareness increases with the increase in the economic level (P-value < 0.05).
When comparing the degree of awareness between the presence or absence of a family member working in the medical field, the average scores of those who have a relative working in the medical field were (4.81) and (4.77) for those who do not have, without a statistically significant difference in the average degrees of awareness ( P-value > 0.05)
When comparing the degree of awareness by college, the average score of medical college students was (4.85), while the non-medical college student was (4.41) without a statistically significant difference in the mean degrees of awareness (P-value > 0.05).
The grades of the sixth year students are higher than the rest of the years (5.14), where the average degrees of awareness increases with the increase of the school year, except for the second year students whose average degrees of awareness were lower than the average degrees of awareness of the first year students (P-value < 0.05).
The degree of awareness was also compared according to receiving training in first aid for burns, the degrees of those who received training (5.30) were higher than those who did not (4.57) (P-value < 0.05).
The average score of those who received their information from the Internet (4.74), television (4.58), books and articles (4.89) was lower than those who received it from the university (5.06), and training workshops (5.63) (P-value < 0.05)
When comparing the average degrees of awareness according to the student’s self-assessment, it appeared that the average degrees of awareness increased with the increase in the student’s assessment of his skill in providing first aid, except for the average degrees of awareness of students with good skills, which was lower than the average degrees of awareness of students with medium skills, but both are close (P-value < 0.05)