Knowledge of Healthcare Workers Regarding Road Traffic Child Safety in South Bačka District, Serbia Translated title: Znanje Zdravstvenih Delavcev o Varnosti Otrok v Cestnem Prometu v Južnobačkem Okraju, Srbija

Abstract

Introduction

Healthcare workers (HCW) can have an important role in educating parents about child road safety, but research on the topic shows that they usually do not have adequate knowledge. Thus, the aim of our study was to analyze their knowledge in the field of child road safety.

Methods

The cross-sectional study was conducted among HCW from South Bačka district, Serbia, using a specially created questionnaire for assessing knowledge on road traffic injuries in children.

Results

The research involved the participation of 317 healthcare workers (86 physicians and 231 nurses). Healthcare workers from primary healthcare made up almost 70% of all respondents, followed by those from tertiary (21.8%) and secondary (11.3%) level institutions. The average percentage of correct answers on the knowledge test was 74.3% (mean=22.3, SD=4.0). Out of all respondents, HCWs employed in the paediatrics department had a significantly higher percentage of correct answers at 77.7% (mean=23.3, SD=3.4) compared to other health workers at 73% (mean=21.9, SD=4.1) (p=0.002). Association analysis demonstrated that HCW employed at paediatric departments on average scored 1.37 (95% CI: 0.40–2.33, p=0.006) points higher in comparison with other HCW.

Conclusion

This research demonstrated an unsatisfactory level of knowledge on child road safety by HCW, and the variability across different question domains, which underlines the need for continuous educations in order to improve their knowledge. Our results may serve in planning additional public health measures and can provide a reference for future studies.

Izvleček

Uvod

Zdravstveni delavci imajo lahko pomembno vlogo pri izobraževanju staršev o varnosti otrok v cestnem prometu, vendar raziskave na to temo kažejo, da običajno nimajo ustreznega znanja. Tako je bil cilj naše raziskave analizirati njihovo znanje s področja varnosti otrok v cestnem prometu.

Metode

Presečna študija je bila izvedena med zdravstvenimi delavci iz južnobačkega okraja, Srbija, z uporabo posebej izdelanega vprašalnika za ocenjevanje znanja o prometnih poškodbah pri otrocih.

Rezultati

V raziskavi je sodelovalo 317 zdravstvenih delavcev (86 zdravnikov in 231 medicinskih sester). Med vsemi anketiranimi je bilo skoraj 70 % zdravstvenih delavcev na primarni ravni, sledijo pa jim zaposleni na terciarni (21,8 %) in sekundarni (11,3 %) ravni. Povprečni odstotek pravilnih odgovorov na preizkusu znanja je bil 74,3 % (povprečje = 22,3, SD = 4,0). Med vsemi anketiranci so imeli zdravstveni delavci, zaposleni na pediatričnem oddelku, značilno večji odstotek pravilnih odgovorov (77,7 %) (povprečje = 23,3, SD = 3,4) v primerjavi z drugimi zdravstvenimi delavci (73 %) (povprečje = 21,9, SD = 4,1) (p = 0,002). Asociacijska analiza je pokazala, da so zdravstveni delavci, zaposleni na pediatričnih oddelkih, v povprečju dosegli 1,37 (95 % IZ: 0,40–2,33, p = 0,006) točke višje rezultate v primerjavi z drugimi zdravstvenimi delavci.

Zaključek

Ta raziskava je pokazala nezadovoljivo raven znanja zdravstvenih delavcev o varnosti otrok v cestnem prometu in variabilnost med različnimi domenami vprašanj, kar poudarja potrebo po nenehnem izobraževanju za izboljšanje njihovega znanja. Naši rezultati lahko služijo pri načrtovanju dodatnih javnozdravstvenih ukrepov in so lahko referenca za prihodnje študije.