First aid
First aid refers to medical care that is usually given at the immediate time after the injury and the scene of injury. It is mostly a one-time short-term treatment that does not require much skill or training. First aid may include cleaning minor cuts, scrapes, or abrasions, treating a minor burn, applying bandages and medication, using topical medications, draining blisters, removing debris from the eyes, massaging, and drinking fluids to relieve heat stress.
The revised recordkeeping rule that OSHA adopted on January 1, 2002, excludes first-aid incidents from having to be recorded. A worker goes to the first aid room and has a bandage applied to a small cut by a registered nurse. Although the registered nurse is a health care professional, the employer is not required to report the accident because the worker only administered first aid. The selected references below provide more information on first aid.
First aid is important
The purpose of first aid is two-fold
First, it helps you see when someone needs help, and second, it prepares you when every minute counts.
What needs to be remembered is that an emergency can strike in your household with the people you care about the most, while in the workplace, grocery store, or out on a nature path while hiking. It might be something simple such as properly treating cuts and scrapes but it could be the very thing that could keep a person alive long enough to get help to them.
That is why the importance of first aid training should never be belittled. It will not take long to learn first aid. First aid training fits almost any schedule. It only takes a couple of hours and can arm anyone with the skills and know-how to respond in time to an emergency, or take action, in extremely critical situations, and sometimes even save a life.
Courses for the Way You Live and Learn With weekday, weekend, in-person classes, online classes, and on-campus blended courses you will find a selection of courses for your unique lifestyle of learning.
This looks good on a resume
By enrolling in this type of course, you’ll show that you’ve taken the initiative to receive valuable and life-saving training.
List anything in a Special Skills or Certifications section, including this information. For instance, if you are a volunteer fire, lifeguard, babysitter, or child care provider and experienced first aid, mention so in one short sentence in that area. Training Principles First Aid Training Continued
Most basic principles are just learned over time. Things like knowing how to apply a tourniquet or apply direct pressure to a bleed are often learned passively.
Effective and probably lifesaving first aid interventions however need training and education.
Practical. This is particularly true when dealing with diseases and injuries that could cause death, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Such interventions could be very invasive and pose the potential for further injury to both patient and provider.
As with any form of training, it best gets done before a real emergency occurs. In many countries, you can hear basic first aid instructions over the phone while the ambulance is en route when you call the emergency medical services. Training is usually in the form of attending a course, which usually leads to certification. Because of regular changes in procedures and protocols, based on up-to-date clinical knowledge and to maintain skills, it is often necessary to undertake regular refresher or recertification courses.
Community organizations such as the Red Cross and St John Ambulance often provide first aid training. Alternatively, it can be accessed through commercial providers who charge a fee for providing it to individuals. The most common setting for this commercial training is for employee workplace first aid provision. Many community organizations offer a commercial service that supplements their community programs.
Basic First Aid Skills
Mobility Skills
If there are dangers around, the patient should be moved to a safe place where first aid procedures can be given.
In the case where a patient is suspected of having a serious spinal cord injury If the patient shows signs of having the possibility of a serious spinal cord injury in the back either in the neck or in the back, then the patient must be moved only when there is a great reason to do so, and if so, as minimal as possible with proper caution. This will also deter many risks from causing any worse damage to the patient’s movements in the future.
Skill Checks
Examine the status of the victim, checking the major life-threatening injuries first. The best method for initial assessment is interrogation, typically by thumping on the victim’s shoulder or some other part of the victim and yelling something, such as Can you hear me?
Occasionally, the victim suffers an injury that results in a severe hemorrhage; that would need additional treatment, commonly beginning with direct application to the wound.
If the victim has not responded, the rate can be estimated by placing the thumb or the index or middle finger at each side of the neck, in line with the head’s sides.
The heart rate may also be felt by positioning the thumbs against the pulsations that could be felt on both wrists and directly under the thumb under moderate pressure.
Ambulance first aid service
others receive particular training for first aid to be applied during public or private events, filming, and other venues with groups of people. They are known as first responders, among other designations. This work is done voluntarily, with some organizations being the Red Cross and St John Ambulance, while others get paid for this work on a medical contract. First aid providers