Compliance of middle school-aged babysitters in central Pennsylvania with national recommendations for emergency preparedness and safety practices

Objective. To determine the compliance of middle school-aged babysitters with national recommendations for emergency preparedness and safety practices. Patients and methods. A prospective, self-administered questionnaire-based study was conducted at 3 middle schools in central Pennsylvania. Results. A total of 1364 questionnaires were available for analysis. Responding babysitters (n = 890) reported previous training that included babysitter (21%), first aid (64%), and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (59%) training. Reported unsafe babysitter practices were leaving a child unattended (36%) and opening the door to a stranger (24%). The most common emergency experience encountered by responding babysitters included cut or scrape (83%), burns (28%), and choking (14%). Ten percent of responding babysitters have activated the 911 system. Conclusions. Middle school-aged babysitters will likely encounter common household emergencies and therefore benefit from first aid training; however, very little difference in safety knowledge was found between trained and untrained babysitters, suggesting modifications in babysitter training programs may be required.