First aid

[Peter10]

I guess I really need to get back on a course sooner then and refresh it all.

Though - how hard is it for some people to find a pulse? Wouldn't it be better to at least try quickly before carrying on with CPR.

I'm taught now not to even try to find a pulse. We look for and hear/feel for breathing & response to pain. If you cannot feel breath when you put your ear to their mouth, we are to go straight into full CPR 30x2 and continue until either there is significant improvement or we can't continue (or a defib arrives).

Somewhere there is a statistic that there is something like a 5% chance to successfully bring someone back through CPR but an 80% chance if you have a defib (not 100% on those % but it is fairly significant). Personally, I would hate to give CPR and know a defib wasn't available.

 

[Salad Dodger]

I first did a first aid course for the first time when our daughter was very small, as I guessed (correctly) that we would inevitably have some falls, cuts and bruises to deal with as she grew up. Never had to any serious first aid on her but it was handy to have some idea of what to do when she fell downstairs as a toddler.

Later, I became a kayaking instructor for a local club, and as such I had to take a first aid course every 3 years to keep my qualification up to date.

I did have to put it to use once when a youth in the local park tripped and knocked himself out, and once at work when a girl managed to drop a stanly knife onto her foot although the latter incident was more about reassuring her than actually having to do anything really dramatic in the way of treatment.

I do think that all adults should learn a few bits of basic first aid, and I still carry my canoeing first aid kit in the car, even though I very rarely paddle now, and I always carry a first aid kit in my cycle rucksack. Hopefully both will go unused, but I would sooner have a few bits of gear and some idea about what to do with them, just in case.....

 

[gbb]

Its invaluable to be trained even if you've never used it in anger, so's to speak...because one day, you just might need it.
Trained each year in rescuscitation in my old job because our team were the designated BA rescue/emergency squad in case of an ammonia leak on the plant. Never used it in the 10 years i was there.
Roll forward another 10 years, 10 years since any training, we had a guy collapse at work. They were giving him mouth to mouth, but were very unsure of themselves. I could see they were struggling with the uncertainty and no-one felt happy with their own abbility. Offered to take over till the ambulance came, and the guys lips were turning blue. Didnt really know the absolutely correct sequence but regular chest compressions and mouth to mouths.
The poor guy died later anyway. You torture yourself...could i have done better, did i do it right ?...but the ambulance guys said without that input...he'd never ever have even made it to the hospital.
You reconcile yourself to the fact you did the best you could and be thankful you even remotely remember the sequences required.
I think i'd have felt a lot worse watching him die...and being able to do nothing.

 

[Theseus]

I have been a First Aider at work for about 6 years (renewal due for second time this winter) and up until this morning have only had to deal with the odd cut, scrape or allergic reaction.

On the commute in today I came across an RTA and realised how unprepared I was to deal with things. There was a young woman lying in the road. She was bleeding from a scalp wound and I didn't have any kit with me. Fortunately someone was already calling for an ambulance and somebody else with a lot more presence of mind organised things 'till they came. I let her get on with it and looked after the traffic control to keep them safe. It was only as I was walking into the office that I realised that I could have used my puncture kit. I carry gloves and tissues and could have used them to keep pressure on the wound. I could have used my jacket to cover her to keep her warm as she was showing signs of shock.

The thing is these ideas only came to me well after the event, at the time I was at a total loss as to what to do.