The effectiveness of ‘practice while watching’ technique for the first aid training of the chemical industry employees

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Industrial accidents constitute about 20% of all causes of accidents. They are often sudden, unexpected and may lead to tragic consequences, which however can be partially reduced if first aid and emergency treatment are given as soon as possible. The most important part of a chain of survival is the bystanders’ response. In practice, it is highly dependent on the ability of co-workers to perform basic first-aid tasks. The aim of this paper was to present the effectiveness of ‘practice while watching’ training method for the first aid training of the chemical industry employees. The authors focused on the most important elements of the training, which have an impact on the acquisition of knowledge and skills of first aid. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The training involved 69 employees of the chemical industry. The test sheets were used for the assessment, where each of the action steps was assigned points 0 for incorrect and 1 for a properly performed activity. RESULTS: Each step was completed by at least 76% of workers. When providing both adult and infant CPR, the main difficulty was calling for help. Younger employees obtained better results than older colleagues. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated the high effectiveness of the ‘practice while watching’ method. In addition, workers’ age turned out to be a significant variable which affected their performance.