What are the methods and measures related to poisoning and accidental first aid

Poisoning is a type of accidental injury that occurs frequently every day, and the corresponding first aid treatment is a highly targeted core branch of the accident first aid system. The core logic not only follows the general principle of accidental first aid of "first ensuring the safety of the scene, then rescuing the injured, and then sending the patient to the hospital", but also has special treatment requirements for the intrusion path of poisons. The overall key can be summarized as "prioritizing poisoning, quick removal of damage, and symptomatic life-saving".

I have been running pre-hospital first aid for almost 8 years, and I have encountered at least hundreds of poisoning accidents. Many people’s understanding of this type of first aid is still stuck in the old impression of “inducing vomiting when poisoned”, and there are many mistakes. Last month, I encountered an elderly man who mistakenly took topical cockroach medicine as candy. The family immediately poured two large bowls of soapy water to induce vomiting. It turned out that the elderly man had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. When he was induced to vomit, the vomit was choked into his lungs. When he was delivered, he was already hypoxic and cyanotic, which was more harmful than the poisoning itself.

When it comes to inducing vomiting, there are actually different voices in the industry. A few years ago, guidelines would recommend that conscious oral poisoning victims induce vomiting first. Now more and more clinical data show that unless the poison is extremely toxic and there is sufficient time before the onset, it is not recommended for ordinary people to induce vomiting on their own. First, ordinary people cannot grasp the intensity and indications. When encountering corrosive poisons such as strong acids and alkalis, or patients who have fallen into semi-consciousness, inducing vomiting will cause secondary burns and the risk of aspiration and suffocation. Secondly, inducing vomiting will delay the time of getting to the hospital. It is safer to send the patient directly to the hospital for gastric lavage. There are currently no fully unified civilian operating standards. If ordinary people are unsure, just listen to the on-site guidance of the 120 dispatcher.

In fact, the underlying logic of first aid for poisoning and common accidents such as car accidents and burns are the same. For example, secondary risks must be eliminated first: if you encounter carbon monoxide poisoning, you cannot rush into a closed room without taking any protection. Open the window to ventilate first to confirm safety before going in to rescue people. This is exactly the same as the logic of rescuing people in a fire; if the skin is stained with corrosive poisons, take off the poison-stained clothes as soon as possible and rinse with large amounts of running water for more than 15 minutes. This is no different from the treatment of ordinary chemical burns. To put it bluntly, first aid for poisoning is like plugging the hole in a leaking water tank. The first priority is to cut off the path for the poison to continue to invade: do not feed any unknown "antidote" to the poison that has been ingested, move it to an open and ventilated place if it is inhaled, and wash off the skin if it is inhaled. This step is more important than anything else. Don't rush to find home remedies. Many poisons have no specific antidote at all. If you cut off the source of the poison a minute earlier, you can avoid irreversible damage.

If you really encounter a poisoning situation, don't be idle after calling 120. Try to find the packaging of the poison that the patient came into contact with, whether it is a medicine bottle, a pesticide bag or the remaining poisonous food, and bring it to the doctor together. This can save a lot of time in poison detection. If you encounter a patient who is unconscious, turn his head sideways to avoid choking vomit into the trachea. This is also a general treatment requirement for comatose patients in all accidental first aid. There are so many "first aid remedies" online now. You really don't need to remember so many fancy operations. Just remember to move the person to a safe place if you encounter a poisoning accident. Don't feed milk, mung bean soup and other universal detoxification products spread online. Call 120 as soon as possible and follow the dispatcher's instructions. Basically, nothing will go wrong.