What are the requirements for basic first aid skills?

Dare to reach out, don’t add to the chaos, and be able to provide support.

I have been doing community first aid voluntary training for almost three years. I have seen too many trainees with perfect scores in the theory test actually faint when they see passers-by. Their first reaction is to hide behind them, or they stand on the edge holding up their mobile phones to take pictures and ask if anyone can save them. 80% of people were screened out. After all, it is normal to be afraid of taking responsibility and making mistakes. Fortunately, there is the "Good Guy Law" in the Civil Code, which means that as long as you do not intentionally harm the injured, you are not responsible. To put it bluntly, this is a mental level.

What’s more important than daring to reach out is not to cause trouble. Don’t believe it. In the past, enthusiastic citizens saw someone getting electrocuted in the 120 clinic in the jurisdiction. They rushed to pull the person with their bare hands. As a result, both people were stunned and sent to the hospital. There was only one danger in the first place, but it added an extra burden to the first aid.； There was also a viral incident in the past two years that was about hanging a drowning person upside down to control the water. A young man used this method to save a child who fell into the water. He controlled the water for three minutes before remembering to perform CPR. In the end, the child was not saved. The doctor who visited the hospital said that if CPR had been performed two minutes earlier, there might be hope. Don’t use wild tricks and unverified operations spread online. If you are unsure, wait for 120 dispatch guidance. It is much more reliable than trying to figure it out on your own.

There is actually a debate in the industry now about whether to teach the general public skills such as Heimlich, hemostatic bandaging, and fracture fixation, which have operational thresholds. One group thinks that it is always right to learn more than one skill, and it may save lives in an emergency. The other group thinks that most ordinary people will learn it after half a day. I have almost forgotten it since I was 20 years old. It is easy to cause problems if you really start to use it. For example, if the Heimlich technique is not performed correctly, it is easy to crush the ribs or even puncture the organs, which will cause secondary injuries. It is better to just teach everyone how to quickly call 120 to clearly indicate the position and how to judge the consciousness and breathing of the injured. These are the most basic contents.

A related incident happened in a shopping mall in our area last year. A 3-year-old child got stuck in his throat after eating jelly, and his face instantly turned purple. His mother just got the first aid certificate last month. At that time, her mind was blank, and she didn't dare to do the Heimlich on her own. I dialed 120 to turn on the hands-free, followed the dispatcher's instructions step by step, and coughed out the jelly after four thrusts. Later, she was still scared when she talked to me about it, saying that if she had acted blindly because her brain was overheated, she might not have controlled the force well and could have hurt the child.

In fact, to use an inappropriate analogy, basic first aid is like plugging in a mini emergency power bank for a mobile phone that is about to shut down. You don’t have to fully charge it, as long as it can hold on until professional medical care comes to connect it to the "fast charge". There is no need to pursue standard operations like an emergency doctor, or even you don’t know how to operate. Being able to stay next to the injured, help evacuate people to leave ventilation space, and call 120 immediately to clarify the specific location, whether the injured has any trauma, and whether he is conscious or not is a big help.

During previous trainings, I always told students that you don’t have to memorize first aid knowledge by heart. If you encounter trouble, don’t panic or act blindly. It’s better than anything else.