Knowledge Levels of Paramedic Program Senior Year Students on Frequently Used Drugs and Interventional Procedures: A Comparative Study

• Published in: Eurasian journal of emergency medicine Vol. 19; no. 4; pp. 191 - 196
• Main Authors: Gültekin, Tuğba, Yenal, Sinan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Galenos Yayinevi 01.12.2020
• Subjects: drug applications; intervention skills; knowledge level; paramedic; public health
• ISSN: 2149-5807; 2149-6048
• DOI: 10.4274/eajem.galenos.2020.81488

Aim:This study aimed to determine and compare the knowledge level of senior year students studying the paramedic program at Dokuz Eylül (DEU), Ege (EU) and İzmir Katip Çelebi (İKÇU) universities on frequently used drugs and interventional procedures.Materials and Methods:This descriptive study was conducted with 167 students in first and emergency aid programs of three universities with DEU, EU and İKÇU in between March 30, 2019 and December 30, 2019. Descriptive findings were presented as percentage, mean, standard deviation, and median.Results:Of the participants, 52.1% were females and the remaining 47.9% were males. The most common issues for which the paramedic students felt incompetent were drug doses (58.6%) and interventional procedure complications (60.4%). The mean total score of the knowledge level of the paramedic students on drugs and administration methods was 54.724. The total mean total score of the knowledge level of interventional procedures in paramedic students was 65.653. There was no difference in the knowledge level on drugs and administration methods in terms of the different universities (p=0.470). However, a significant difference was found in the knowledge level on interventional procedures between the students studying at different universities (p=0.002). Advanced analysis revealed that the difference was due to İKÇU students (p<0.806) (p<0.004 for DEU and EU).Conclusion:It was determined that paramedic students had low knowledge level on drug usage and interventional procedures. Therefore, the training of paramedics who will work in pre-hospital emergency health service needs to be standardized while considering the deficiencies and including updates.