Factors Influencing Company Bus Drivers' Awareness and Attitudes towards Basic Life Support in Kigali.

BACKGROUND

Basic life support (BLS) refers to a package of care that first responders provide to anyone experiencing a life-threatening condition to increase the victim's chance of survival. Globally, 92% of people who had out-of-hospital cardiac arrest died due to limited provision of BLS, therefore, there is a need to assess the awareness and attitude of the general public towards BLS, such as taxi drivers.

METHODS

A quantitative, analytical study that involved 327 drivers recruited from three different bus stations in Kigali city was undertaken and binary logistic regression was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

The current study found that 19.5% of company bus drivers were aware of basic life support, and 29% had a positive attitude. However, none of the participants had a basic emergency kit in their buses. Having basic life support training, (AOR=7.853:95%CI: 1.326-10.413) and previous involvement in accidents (AOR=4.321:95% CI 1.163-4.628) were significantly associated with basic life support awareness.

CONCLUSION

Kigali city in collaboration with Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority need to devise ways bus drivers can be trained in basic life support. In addition, there is a need for every bus permitted to work in transportation sectors to get a basic life support kit.