What are the basic first aid skills?

The core of the basic first aid skills that we ordinary people need to master is to be able to hold on to the golden window of life-saving and avoid secondary injuries before professional medical care arrives. You do not need to have the professionalism of a certified medical care. You just need to be able to step in at critical times. Last week, I met a young man on the community basketball court who sprained his ankle while grabbing a rebound. People around him swarmed around him to help him up and rub his ankle. Fortunately, a retired emergency department doctor stopped him. He touched it first to make sure there was no open fracture. He found two popsicle sticks and applied them to the swollen area through a T-shirt. I called someone to send him to the social welfare system. If he had rubbed it, the degree of soft tissue contusion would have been at least twice as severe.

Of course, the most important thing is the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED). These two are the only practical and effective pre-hospital first aid methods for cardiac arrest. Last year, a regular customer at the convenience store in front of our community collapsed due to a heart attack. Everyone panicked at that time. Only a newly graduated college student who had participated in first aid training at school went up and knelt on the ground for almost ten minutes. When 120 was called, he was still conscious, and he recovered very well. His family even came to the community to send a banner. Don't think these two skills are difficult. Many communities and business districts now offer free trial classes. You can learn the ropes by practicing with a teacher for half an hour. AEDs are now basically equipped in subways, shopping malls, and office buildings. There will be voice prompts when you open the lid. Just follow the step by step, and you don't have to worry about using it incorrectly.

In addition to such fatal emergencies, we encounter more minor but urgent situations such as trauma and foreign objects stuck in the throat. You must know the Heimlich maneuver. A while ago, I chatted in a group of mothers and said that a child ate jelly and got stuck in the throat. Grandma patted her back for a long time and slapped her face more and more. Yue Zi, just as the guy on the property patrol passed by, he held the baby from behind and pushed it three times before spitting out the jelly. This skill is useful whether it is used to deal with children who have swallowed foreign objects or adults who have fish bones or bones stuck in their meals. Especially if there are elderly and children at home, you really need to learn it.

As for the treatment of common cuts, burns, and sprains, there are many misunderstandings to avoid. For example, if you have a cut, don’t spray powder or cover it with an airtight band-aid. For small wounds, apply pressure first to stop the bleeding, rinse it with running water and then disinfect it with iodophor. For deep wounds, keep pressure to stop the bleeding and go to the hospital for stitches.； If you get burned, don't apply toothpaste, soy sauce or other messy things. Run cold water for at least 15 minutes immediately, which is more effective than anything else. When it comes to the treatment of sprains, there is still some controversy in the academic community. The traditional view is to apply ice within 48 hours and then apply heat. There is also the latest research that if the degree of swelling is not severe, there is no need to deliberately apply ice. Just brake and elevate the affected area. If we ordinary people are not sure, remember not to rub or apply heat casually. It is always right to seek medical advice in time.

Oh, by the way, one of the most easily overlooked skills is risk prediction. If someone gets electrocuted, don’t pull it directly. Turn off the power switch first or find something insulating to open the wire.； When encountering scenes such as car accidents or falls, move the person to a safe place first to avoid secondary collisions, and do not move people with suspected spinal fractures casually. ； When you encounter a comatose person, do not give him water or medicine randomly. An old man in our community suffered a stroke before, and his family members hurriedly gave him Angong Niuhuang Pills. As a result, they choked on the trachea and caused aspiration pneumonia, which in turn delayed the progress of treatment.

In fact, there is no threshold for these skills. If you take a weekend to practice for two hours at a free training class at the Red Cross or community hospital near your home, when you encounter an emergency, it will be much more useful than standing around searching for your phone for ten minutes. After all, when it comes to first aid, a difference of two or three minutes may lead to completely different results.