What are the basic first aid skills?

Basic first aid skills essentially revolve around the two cores of "grabbing golden rescue time and avoiding secondary injuries." The core covers cardiac arrest treatment, relief of airway foreign body obstruction, initial trauma rescue, and response to common acute emergencies. Ordinary people do not need to master overly complicated clinical operations. If they are proficient in these core movements, they can handle most daily emergency first aid scenarios.

I have been doing community outreach for half a year with the science popularization team of the city emergency center, and I have seen too many people who are so panicked that they can't even call 120 to know their location. In fact, even if you don't know how to do anything, if you can accurately explain the location, the patient's current state of consciousness, and whether there is any obvious trauma when making an emergency call, you have already taken the first step correctly.

The most common emergency scenario is airway obstruction. Last month, while eating at a hot pot restaurant downstairs, the two-year-old child next to me chewed some hair and got stuck in his throat. His face was so swollen that he couldn't even cry. The parents hugged him for a long time and patted him on the back, but it didn't help. Fortunately, he was nearby. There was a kindergarten teacher nearby who knew the Heimlich maneuver. He put the child upside down on his knees and patted the middle of the shoulder blades three times. The hairy belly vomited out on the spot. If it would have been at least ten minutes to wait for the ambulance to arrive, the child might have been deprived of oxygen and suffered irreversible damage. There is also a view now that ordinary people do not need to learn the Heimlich, and vigorous back patting can expel foreign bodies. However, we specifically asked the emergency doctor. In the case of complete obstruction, the success rate of the Heimlich is nearly 60% higher than blind patting on the back. Indiscriminate patting on the back may make the foreign body get stuck deeper, so it is still necessary to learn it.

Oh, by the way, the only thing more dangerous than airway obstruction is cardiac arrest. The golden rescue time is only 4 minutes. After this time, even if you are rescued, you will most likely suffer irreversible brain damage. Many people think that chest compressions and the use of AEDs (automated external defibrillators) are a matter of medical care, and ordinary people are afraid to use them. In fact, the AEDs now equipped in public places such as business districts and subway stations have full voice prompts. Even if it is your first time, you can just follow the instructions and there will be no mistakes. Chest compression is not that difficult. Place the heel of your palm in the middle of the line between the two nipples and press down about 5 centimeters. The frequency should be 100-120 times per minute. During our last community drill, 70-year-old Aunt Zhang always felt that she could not learn it at first. After practicing it twice, the movements became standard. She also said, "It turns out it is that simple. I dare to do it even if I encounter trouble."

There are also traumatic scenes such as falls, cuts, and sprains that we encounter most every day. You don’t need to bandage as neatly as an emergency nurse. The core principle is not to move blindly: if you suspect a fracture, find a hard board, cardboard or even a rolled-up magazine to temporarily fix the injured part. Don’t try to lift the person up by pulling hard.； If there is a lot of bleeding, put a clean towel or clothes on the wound to apply pressure. If the bleeding is from a large artery in the limbs, you can also tie a tourniquet on the side of the wound close to the heart. Remember the time to tie it and tell the doctor then. Last time our travel group went hiking in the countryside, one of our teammates was scratched by a falling rock and his calf artery was scratched. Our companions used the straps of trekking poles to make a temporary tourniquet. When we were sent to the hospital, the doctor said that if it had been three to five minutes later, he might have suffered from hemorrhagic shock.

Nowadays, many people hold the opposite view, thinking that there is no need for ordinary people to learn first aid, and those who are half-informed can easily cause secondary harm to patients. This concern is actually not unreasonable. Therefore, when we do science popularization, we have always emphasized that ordinary people do not need to perform operations beyond their capabilities. For example, if someone gets an electric shock, they must first cut off the power. You must not go up to pull the person directly. If you encounter someone who has swallowed corrosive things, do not induce vomiting. These boundaries should be clear. If you can do it, do it in a standardized way. If you can't, just watch the patient and help call 120. Don't give medicine and water randomly, and there will be no problems.

To be honest, these skills are not complicated. Just like learning to tie shoelaces, you can remember them after practicing them once or twice. When you really encounter an accident, they are much more reliable than some temporary first aid remedies.