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Perception of Choking Injury Risk Among Healthcare Students

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Abstract

Choking injuries in children represent a severe public health burden. Although most choking injuries are due to food, parents have often been found to be unaware of the choking hazards presented by food. In this context, healthcare professionals may play an important role in choking prevention by educating families. We investigate the perception of choking injury risk among healthcare profession students by comparing their awareness and knowledge of choking hazards with those of people without a specific health education. A survey was conducted among a sample of final year healthcare profession students from two universities in northern Italy and a sample of adults from the general population without any health education. Respondents were asked to look at ten pictures and identify the items that pose the greatest choking hazard to children of different age groups. Seventy-one students and 742 adults without any health education responded to the survey. A higher percentage of the adults without a health education identified a food item as posing the greatest choking hazard in comparison to the percentage of healthcare profession students. The results of this study suggest that there is a need to include specific educational modules on choking prevention in healthcare-related degree programs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, Via Loredan, 18, 35131, Padova, Italy

    Carolina Fano, Giulia Lorenzoni, Danila Azzolina & Dario Gregori

  2. Prochild Onlus, Trieste, Italy

    Anna Giuliani & Megan French

  3. Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Torino, Torino, Italy

    Sara Campagna & Paola Berchialla

Authors
  1. Carolina Fano
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  2. Giulia Lorenzoni
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  3. Danila Azzolina
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  4. Anna Giuliani
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  5. Megan French
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  6. Sara Campagna
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  7. Paola Berchialla
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  8. Dario Gregori
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Correspondence to Dario Gregori.

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Fano, C., Lorenzoni, G., Azzolina, D. et al. Perception of Choking Injury Risk Among Healthcare Students. J Community Health 44, 974–981 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-019-00662-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-019-00662-5

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