Abstract
Background

Emergency medical care remains a vital part of health care that is lifesaving. Its significance cannot be overstated especially in developing countries like Pakistan, where control measures that help in preventing debilitating health emergencies, are not fully explored. The effectiveness of emergency medical care is a function of both the health care personnel in charge of providing this care and services as well as the members of the population who seek these services and care. The aim of this study is therefore to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of emergency medical care in Pakistani population.

Methods

This study is a cross-sectional study that was done using a validated questionnaire from 05th June 2018 to 31st July 2018 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The questionnaire consisted of 15 items (Knowledge: 6 questions, Attitude: 5 questions and Practices: 4 questions). Socio-demographic information such as age and gender for each participant were also recorded.

Results

After the data were collated, they were statistically analyzed and tabulated and they show a good knowledge among the respondents about emergency care. There was, however, some deficiency in good attitude and practice of emergency care, compared to their knowledge. A good example of this is seen in the fact that majority of respondents (65.97%) agree that a patient with medical emergency should arrive at the hospital within the first hour, but majority of respondents (40.31% while at home and 84.29% while outside the home) insist that they would use a private car or taxi and not the emergency service (ambulance) to transport their family member to the hospital. A reason for this may be because 29.84% of respondents say that an ambulance would take 1-2 hours to arrive.

Conclusion

This study revealed that even though there is a good knowledge among members of the population, this knowledge has not significantly affected their attitude and practices of emergency medical care. This means that efforts must be put in place to bridge the gap that seems to exist between their knowledge of emergency care and their response (attitude and practices) to it.

Key words: Emergency, Medical Care, Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Pakistan