The Trained First Aider Can Mean the Difference Between Life and Death

When you are training as a first aider you learn a lot about the human body and you gain unbelievably valuable life saving skills. Learning in a controlled classroom environment, using first aid manuals and simulation training aids provide you with the knowledge and basic skills required to administer first aid, but it still doesn’t really prepare you for having to deal with the real thing. When dealing with their first real emergency situation many first aiders feel apprehensive, nerves can kick in and some even panic. This is quite understandable when you consider the differences between learning in a classroom and applying it to reality.

The primary aim of a first aider is to try to preserve life until qualified medical assistance arrives. The best a first aider can do is simply to do their best. When arriving at an emergency situation, the first aider should conduct an initial risk assessment to identify any potential dangers. If there are any dangers to themselves or further dangers to the casualty, then these hazards must be removed before any treatment begins, too many people put their own lives at risk and become casualties themselves when trying to assist in emergency situations.

By doing this, you have already completed step one if what is sometimes known as the ‘emergency action plan’. Now you can proceed with checking response rates and conducting the primary and secondary surveys of the casualty. The primary survey is simply to ensure that the patients airway is open and that they are breathing properly, when this has been achieved, the secondary survey is conducted. The secondary survey focuses on checking for burns, bleeding and broken bones. An easy way to remember this sequence is A+B, BBB (Airway and Breathing, Blood, Burns and Bones).

Remain calm and be confident. The casualty needs to feel safe and secure in your hands so it is important you remain in control and give off an air of confidence. Talk to the casualty as you perform your examinations, this will not only act as a form of reassurance for yourself but it will also instil an element of trust within the casualty and will hopefully prevent them any further unnecessary stress. When applying your treatment, explain what you are going to do. Use the treatment that is most likely to be of benefit to the casualty, of course there are elements of risk involved but do not use a treatment that you are unsure of just for the sake of doing something. Where adequate first aid items and equipment are unavailable, you can improvise by creating dressings and bandages out of clean items if clothing. But as a first aider, it’s a sensible idea to own your own first aid kit even if it is only a rapid response pack which contains the bare essentials such as a resuscitation face shield and gloves.

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