ABSTRACT

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the coping ability and educational need in an actual emergency situation according to the first aid education of the occupational therapist and to examine the effect of the educational experience on the ability to cope with first aid and the need for education. Methods: One hundred and fifty occupational therapists working in clinical settings were selected and surveyed as subjects for this study. The questionnaire consisted of 37 questions, which included the general characteristics and first aid experience of the subject as well as their ability to cope with various emergency situations and opinions on the necessity of first aid education. Results: One hundred and fifteen(76.7%) answered that they had experienced first aid education or training. For their ability to cope with first aid treatment according to whether or not they had first aid education experience, they answered that they were ‘unable to cope’ regardless of experience. All items except respiratory disorder (t = 2.721, p <.05) showed no statistical significance(p >.05). The correlation between two dependent variables was statistically significant(p <.05). Conclusion: The results of this study show that the ability to cope with first aid treatment is not significantly different from that of an untrained person even when they have experience teaching first aid. Therefore, more continuous and realistic education and training will be needed to respond appropriately to an actual emergency situation.