Teacher´s Knowledge About First Aid In The School Environment: Strategies To Develop Skills

Emergency situations occur anywhere and at any time, however, schools generate a significant concern because accidents happen routinely and teachers are the first ones to perform the assistance measures. Given this reality, a training course or even the inclusion of first aid knowledge in the curriculum of schools is made necessary. Based on what is exposed, this study aimed to understand the role of teachers facing urgency and emergency situations in the school context. Descriptive study with a qualitative approach developed in the city of Juazeiro do Norte, Ceara, Brazil, having as scenario a kindergarten, elementary and high school from a private network and eighteen active teachers from this institution as informants. The empirical material was collected from semi-structured interviews and analyzed following the steps of technical analysis of content proposed by Minayo (2010). It was evident that teachers have a perception that is very close to the first aid concepts; however, it is still very restricted to the concept of disease prevention and not the health promotion in the school context. The same study also revealed the importance of maintaining a calm behavior in front of an urgency and emergency situation; however, many teachers do not feel fully prepared to act when facing an accident. Teachers also highlighted the facilities and difficulties in carrying out these actions, emphasizing the access to materials that are required to realize the first aid, however, having these material is not enough, since the lack of knowledge still prevails as the greatest difficulty, revealing that having the materials is not sufficient and teachers need to know how to use them. It was clear that teachers act in urgency and emergency situations to ensure the student’s lives; however, it is necessary to have the qualification for this role. The need to explore strategies in schools aimed to promote specific knowledge regarding first aid actions for the teachers is revealed. Thus, teachers will become more confident in the provision of care avoiding future consequences.