What are the basic first aid skills

The basic first aid skills we talk about in daily life are centered around the three core goals of first preserving vital signs in an emergency, then avoiding aggravation of injuries, and finally easing the discomfort of the injured. There are no too rigid boundaries, and they are all practical content that can really come in handy before 120 arrives.

A while ago, I met an old man downstairs in a community who had a heart attack and fell to the ground. The first thing he used was not a complicated operation at all. He squatted down and patted his shoulder to ask someone to judge his consciousness. He felt whether the carotid artery was pulsating. If he found that he had stopped, he immediately knelt down and performed chest compressions. This is the most core life support skill, as well as the often-called Heimli. The same goes for Kefa. Last month when we had a group meeting at the company, a colleague swallowed too quickly and his airway got stuck. His face instantly turned purple from holding it in, and there was no response after being slapped twice on the back. I stood behind him and hugged his upper abdomen and quickly pressed upward three times to spit out the green lump blocked in the airway. These can directly save lives and are the highest priority in basic first aid.

Once it is confirmed that the injured person's breathing and heartbeat are stable, the next thing to do is to try not to make the injury worse. For example, if you go hiking outdoors on the weekend and encounter a teammate who has sprained his foot, don't come up and rub it with your hands. First, find a cardboard or an idle hiking pole to briefly fix the injury to prevent the broken end from shifting and poking the surrounding blood vessels and nerves if there is a fracture. If you encounter bleeding due to friction, just take a clean gauze or a new unworn T-shirt and press it on the wound to stop the bleeding. Don't use so-called hemostatic remedies at home, which will easily cause trouble for the doctor's subsequent debridement. By the way, there is another controversial point in the industry, which is whether you can apply toothpaste or soy sauce after a burn or scald? The current mainstream first aid guidelines clearly do not recommend it. These colored or additive-laden things will not only contaminate the wound, but also affect the doctor's judgment of the depth of the burn. However, a small number of grassroots first aid practitioners have suggested that in extreme outdoor scenarios where there is no running cold water, a small amount of particle-free white toothpaste can temporarily relieve the burning sensation. However, in any case, the priority of this operation is definitely much lower than the standard treatment process of flushing the wound with running cold water for more than 15 minutes.

There are also some seemingly inconspicuous operations that are actually included in the scope of basic first aid. For example, if you encounter someone having an epileptic seizure, don't force his twitching arms and legs, and don't stuff spoons, towels, etc. into his mouth. Just move him to a flat place without sharp objects around him. You can just turn your face sideways so that the vomit can flow out smoothly. People who suffer from heat stroke in summer should first move to a cool and ventilated place, unbutton their collars, and feed them some warm salt water. These are all things that can help the injured relieve discomfort and avoid further deterioration of the condition.

When I went to the Red Cross Society to take the first aid certificate test, the lecturer told us that there is really no need to memorize the classification of first aid skills. When people are really panicking at the scene, can you remember: "First check whether there is breathing and heartbeat, and then don't mess around and aggravate the injury. I don't know." "Just wait for 120 guidance on how to deal with it" is better than anything else. Many people always think that first aid is a matter of medical care, but in a real emergency, in the ten minutes before 120 arrives, ordinary people who know basic skills can really save a life that is about to slip away.