RATES OF FIRST AID PROVISION IN RUSSIA: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Authors:   Medical Institute named after S.I. Georgievsky of V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol, Russia, Birkun Alexei ,   Crimean Republican Center of Disaster Medicine and Emergency Medical Services, Simferopol, Russia
Published: August 2024

Significance. To ensure rational organization and improvement of the first aid system, a clear understanding of the rates and effectiveness of its provision is required. In the absence of mechanisms for regular monitoring over first aid provision in the Russian Federation, an important source of information about current practice can be research that provides information on the rate of first aid in Russia. However, a general analysis of such research has yet to be carried out. The purpose of the study was to carry out a systematic review of scientific publications presenting data on the rate of first aid provision in the Russian Federation. Material and methods. In November 2023, a search, selection, and analysis of the Russian-language scientific articles published between 2003 and 2023 containing information on the rate of first aid provision in Russia, regardless of the reason for provision, type of subjects and objects of first aid provision, were conducted. The systematic review was carried out in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Results. The review sample included 12 articles. According to the published studies, the rate of first aid ranged from 2.0% to 85.9%. The studies included in the review significantly varied in the source of data on the rate of first aid, range of chronological period (from one year to 20 years), geographical coverage (from a section of a road to the country as a whole), type of the studied subjects and objects of first aid provision, size and nature of the general population. Often, the publications lacked information about key characteristics of material and methods, such as properties of the general population, geography of the study, period covered by the study, type of the subjects of first aid provision, and sources of information on the rate of first aid. For seven publications (58.3%), extrapolation of the relative rate of first aid provision to all cases in the aggregate requiring first aid is questionable, since either the total number of observations was obviously small in regard to the potential number of cases that required first aid, or description of the research methods was insufficient to conclude about representativeness of the sample. The average relative rate of first aid provision calculated based on data from the other five publications (34.8% with a standard deviation of ± 31.6) can only be considered as an approximate reflection of the actual rate of first aid provision in Russia, due to both the small number of studies and significant methodological heterogeneity of the research. Conclusion. Studies reporting rates of first aid provision in Russia are few and methodologically heterogeneous. Relevant publications often lack key information about research methods, making it difficult to objectively assess the rate of first aid. A significant variation in the rates of first aid is apparently due to diverse approaches to conducting research rather than a real difference in the rates. To establish uniform procedures for monitoring the rate and effectiveness of first aid provision in the Russian Federation and to potentiate the conduct of methodologically-sound research in this direction, along with the development of standardized tools for registering cases of first aid provision, it is necessary to create specific recommendations to define best practices in collecting, processing and presenting relevant data.