What are the contents of basic first aid skills?

The basic first aid skills we often talk about are essentially practical skills that can help people with emergencies or accidental injuries get a golden window of treatment before professional medical staff arrive at the scene. The core follows the principle of "saving lives first, treating injuries later", and the covered content is all designed for the most common first aid scenarios encountered before the hospital.

A while ago, I went to the community with a first aid lecturer from the district Red Cross Society to do science popularization. I met several aunties who said, "Isn't first aid just about pressing on the chest?" In fact, it's not true - think about it, if you encounter a person who fainted under an overpass, you go up and press it. If there is a billboard above your head that is about to fall, or there is a battery car with leakage next to it, don't you also get a ride on it? First assess whether the on-site environment is safe, and then judge the other person's consciousness and vital signs by patting shoulders and shouting, touching the carotid artery, and observing the rise and fall of the chest. These seemingly untechnical actions are actually the prerequisite for all first aid operations. I have seen people hurriedly leaving a fainted passerby on the non-motorized road to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and he was almost hit by a passing electric car, which only added to the chaos.

If it is determined that the other party is in cardiac arrest, then the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) are the core life support skills. When used together, the survival rate of cardiac arrest outside the hospital can be increased by 3 to 4 times. Last year, our district A young man in the business district suffered a heart attack while shopping. The high school student next to him who had just received a first aid certificate went up to him and performed CPR for a minute and a half. When the security guard came over with the AED provided by the mall, he regained consciousness only once. By the time he was rushed to the hospital, he was already able to speak.

If the encounter is not a critical situation of cardiac arrest, basic first aid also covers most of the emergency treatments that are encountered daily, such as the Heimlich maneuver for foreign objects stuck in the throat, emergency treatment for heatstroke/frostbite, positioning for stroke/myocardial infarction, preliminary treatment for accidentally ingested poisons, etc. Aunt Zhang, who lives downstairs in my house, had learned Heimlich for two hours in the community. Last year, her grandson’s face turned purple after eating jelly. She held the baby from her back and pushed her stomach twice before spitting out the jelly. Afterwards, she said that if she had waited for 120 to come over for ten minutes, she really didn’t know what would have happened.

There are also skills such as hemostasis, bandaging, fixation, and transportation that are used in daily collisions, sports injuries, and traffic accidents. They are also considered basic first aid. There is also a controversial point that has been popularized in the industry: many people think that they have to quickly tie a tourniquet when bleeding occurs. In fact, it is only needed when there is massive bleeding from the arteries of the limbs. Use a tourniquet to stop bleeding from ordinary veins or capillaries. Apply clean gauze to the wound to stop the bleeding. If you tie it randomly regardless of the situation, it will easily lead to necrosis due to prolonged ischemia of the limb. There have been cases where cutting vegetables and cutting hands after being tied with a tourniquet for an afternoon and finally having to amputate the finger. Everyone should pay attention to the distinction when learning.

In fact, there is no threshold for learning these skills. Half-day popular science training from Red Cross Society, community or many public welfare organizations can clarify the core points. When you really encounter trouble, it is more effective than anything else.