Effect of Training Program on Nurses' Competence in Performing Primary Survey and Emergency First Aid for Patients with Severe Thermal Burn Injuries

Background: Thermal burns are the most common type burn due to exposure heat source in the form of scalds and flame and radioactivity or radiation. Primary survey and emergency first aid have effective role in patients’ outcomes. Study aim: Evaluate the effect of training program on nurses’ competence in performing primary survey and emergency first aid for patients with severe thermal burn injuries. Design: A quasi-experimental design. Setting: Institute of Burns in central Hehia hospital at Al Sharkia governorate of Egypt. Subject: A convenience sample of available nurses (50), who work in the previously mentioned setting. Tools: A self-administered questionnaire to assess demographic characteristics of nurses and their knowledge about burns and primary survey and emergency first aid; observational checklists to assess nurses' practice regarding primary survey and emergency first aid for severe thermal burn injuries. Results: All nurses' knowledge and practice dimensions were improved post implementing program with a statistically significant difference and improvement in total nurses' knowledge and practices, with the percent of improvement equal to 78.3% and 81.7%, post program respectively. Conclusions: The intervention program has a positive effect in improving nurses’ performance (knowledge and practice) regarding primary survey and emergency first aid regarding severe thermal burn injuries. Recommendations: More research should be conducted with a large sample size and in different contexts to assess the impact of the program on nurses' performance and make generalizations.