What are the basic first aid skills?

Basic first aid skills are essentially practical operations that ordinary people can complete independently before professional first aid personnel arrive to save lives or avoid worsening of injuries. The core focuses on cardiac arrest treatment, acute bleeding control, relief of foreign body obstruction in the airway, and preliminary treatment of common injuries. There are no pretensions, and they are all things that can be used in real situations.

Last week, I was on first aid duty at the community cultural square. I met an old man who was playing chess and suddenly fell down. He was unresponsive and had no pulse even when he felt his carotid artery. People around him were so panicked that they tried to pinch him and lift his arms. The first thing that came into use at this time was cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) combined with an automated external defibrillator (AED). I squatted down and held down the pressure for less than three minutes, but the man was out of breath before I even reached 120. Many people think that this skill requires memorizing a lot of complicated parameters. In fact, the operation requirements of the popular version for ordinary people are not so demanding. As long as you can clearly determine that the person is unresponsive and not breathing normally, you can press the middle and lower third of the sternum with a depth of 5 centimeters and a frequency of about twice per second. When you encounter an AED, just follow the voice prompts. There is no need to worry about powering the wrong person. The machine will judge on its own whether to defibrillate or not. There is no need to worry about this.

More common than cardiac arrest is the treatment of accidental bleeding. In the past two months, a child was running and playing in the park. His calf hit the corner of a rusty iron flower bed. The wound was so deep that fat could be seen, and blood was gushing out. The parents were so panicked that they had to stuff the wound with toilet paper. I put clean gauze on the wound and held it down, and the bleeding stopped in less than five minutes. There is also a point that has been debated in the industry for a long time: many people used to recommend the use of hemostatic powder for small wounds to quickly coagulate blood, but our frontline first responders now prefer to use pressure dressing to stop bleeding for ordinary trauma. Hemostatic powder is easy to remain deep in the wound, and subsequent debridement in the hospital will be troublesome. Unless there is no dressing conditions in extreme conditions in the wild, consider using it.

Another thing that everyone has heard a lot about but is easy to use wrongly is the Heimlich maneuver. Last month, a grandmother in the community was feeding jelly to her 3-year-old grandson. When one bite got stuck, the child's face turned purple. The grandmother patted his back for a long time, but it had no effect. I went over to hold the child upside down and tapped the middle of their shoulder blades with the heel of my hand, and the jelly coughed up in two strokes. It should be noted that children under 1 year old cannot use the upper abdomen technique used by adults. It is easy to break the ribs. If an adult encounters a foreign object and is speechless and blushing, just stand behind him and use your fist to press the position between the navel and sternum and push upward.

The rest are more operations to avoid worsening of the injury. They are not that urgent, but there are many people who step into the trap. For example, when you have a burn or scald, you should immediately rinse it with running cold water for 15 to 20 minutes. Do not believe in the traditional methods of applying toothpaste and soy sauce. Two weeks ago, a girl burned her wrist with boiling water and applied a thick layer of mint toothpaste to the community hospital. In the end, the blisters broke and became infected, and she suffered a lot. There is now a small amount of research saying that applying honey to mild burns without ulceration can promote healing. However, in clinical practice, we still recommend taking a shower to cool down the burn. If there is no ulceration, apply regular burn ointment, which is more reliable. Also, if you sprain your ankle during exercise, apply ice as soon as possible and don't rub it blindly. Rubbing will only cause more bleeding and swelling under the skin. After 24 hours, consider applying heat to activate blood circulation.

In fact, these skills are not as difficult as everyone thinks. You don’t need to take any certificate to learn them. Spending an hour to practice first aid science popularization activities in the community twice will be more effective than anything else when you encounter an accident.