title: The evaluation of first aid and basic life support training for the first year university students.
abstract: In Turkey, the first aiders are few in quantity and yet they are required in many settings, such as earthquakes. It was thought that training first year university students in first aid and basic life support (FA-BLS) techniques would serve to increase the number of first aiders. It was also thought that another problem, the lack of first aid trainers, might be addressed by training medical students to perform this function. A project aimed at training first year university students in FA-BLS was conducted at Hacettepe University. In the first phase, medical student first aid trainers (MeSFAT) were trained in FA-BLS training techniques by academic trainers and in the second phase, first year university students were trained in FA-BLS techniques by these peer trainers under the academic trainers' supervision. The purpose of this study was to assess the participants' evaluation of this project and to propose a new program to increase the number of first aiders in the country. In total, 31 medical students were certified as MeSFATs and 12 of these trained 40 first year university students in FA-BLS. Various questionnaires were applied to the participants to determine their evaluation of the training program. Most of the participants and the authors considered the program to be successful and effective. This method may be used to increase the number of first aid trainers and first aiders in the community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. hakana@hacettepe.edu.tr
authors.forename: Kerim Hakan
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Altintaş
authors.forename: Dilek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aslan
authors.forename: Ali Naci
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Yildiz
authors.forename: Nüket
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Subaşi
authors.forename: Melih
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elçin
authors.forename: Orhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Odabaşi
authors.forename: Nazmi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bilir
authors.forename: Iskender
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sayek
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004493:Education; D004501:Education, Medical; D005260:Female; D005392:First Aid; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008020:Life Support Care; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013334:Students; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey; D014495:Universities