What are the types of basic first aid skills?

The basic first aid skills that ordinary people can use on a daily basis revolve around the principle of "preserving life first, then reducing damage, and preventing subsequent injuries". They mainly cover emergency response to cardiac arrest, basic trauma management, response to common emergencies, and rescue of foreign body obstruction in the airway. There are not too many fancy classifications, but they are all practical skills that can be used immediately when encountering an emergency.

I have been doing community first aid science popularization for five years. I often meet uncles and aunts asking if knowing how to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation counts as knowing first aid. In fact, it is not the case. Among all first aids, the highest priority is indeed the treatment related to cardiac arrest, that is, the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED). After all, the golden rescue window for cardiac arrest is only 4 minutes, and people who are late may not be able to be saved. Last fall, a retired teacher in our district suffered a heart attack and fell to the ground while buying vegetables at the vegetable market. There happened to be a delivery boy who had participated in our training next to him. He immediately knelt down and performed chest compressions. He also called someone to find the AED at the entrance of the vegetable market. In less than three minutes, a defibrillator was used. By the time 120 arrived, the person had resumed breathing on his own. This is a real life-saving skill.

Of course, we encounter more situations that are not so extreme every day. Most of them are traumas caused by bumps and bumps. The corresponding hemostasis, bandaging, fixation, and transportation are actually the core contents of basic first aid. Don’t think these are trivial matters. Last month, an uncle who cut his hand came to the emergency department and cut ribs at home. When he reached the artery, he used a rubber band to strangle his wrist for almost three hours before coming to the hospital. Although the bleeding finally stopped, the nerves in his forearm were ischemic for too long and almost required amputation. If he had known that the tourniquet should be tied to the upper arm and loosened for one or two minutes every 40 minutes, he would not have suffered this fate.

In addition to trauma, there are many emergencies without obvious wounds, and the treatment methods also fall into the category of basic first aid. For example, common heat stroke in summer, carbon monoxide poisoning in winter, burns in children, sudden cerebral infarction in the elderly, epilepsy, fainting due to hypoglycemia, etc., all have corresponding emergency treatment points. We received a case a while ago. A high school student suffered from heat stroke during military training. His classmate kindly gave him hot sugar water and wrapped him in a coat. Instead, his body temperature increased to 42 degrees. He developed heat stroke and was admitted to the ICU. If someone had known how to move the student to a cool place, unbutton his collar and wipe his body with a cold towel to cool down, it would not have become so serious.

The Heimlich maneuver, which everyone often hears about, is specially used to deal with foreign body obstruction in the airway. It is not an exaggeration to mention it alone. The old man eats rice cakes and jelly and gets stuck in the throat, the child swallows toy parts, and the adults choke on bones while eating. With the right technique, the foreign body can be expelled in a few seconds. Last month, a parent sent us a thank you message, saying that just a week after participating in our charity training, he used the Heimlich maneuver to save his 3-year-old son who had a peanut stuck in his throat.

Speaking of this, I have to mention that there are now different views on the content of basic first aid in the academic community. For example, there was a heated discussion before about "should ordinary people learn artificial respiration?" One group believes that non-professionals do not need to learn artificial respiration and can simply perform chest compressions. This not only avoids concerns about infectious diseases, but also does not delay the compression because of finding a position to inflate. The other group believes that in cases of drowning and cardiac arrest in children, the role of artificial respiration is irreplaceable. When we ordinary people learn it, we can do it according to our own acceptance without any psychological burden. When we really encounter something, if we dare to do chest compressions, it is already much better than doing nothing at all.

In fact, these skills are not as difficult as everyone thinks. If you take two hours to attend an offline public welfare science class, you can basically understand the core points. After all, learning first aid is not to become a doctor, but to prevent us from standing around and worrying if something happens to someone around us.