What are the contents and methods of basic first aid skills?

The basic first aid skills that ordinary people need to master are essentially centered around the three cores of "preserving life first, then reducing damage, and avoiding deterioration of the situation." There are no overly complicated operations, and most of them can be mastered after one or two practices. They are not exclusive to medical care at all.

When I attended the first aid training of the district Red Cross Society last year, the lecturer mentioned a real incident that had just happened in the district: a sophomore boy in high school suddenly collapsed due to viral myocarditis while playing basketball. The physical education teacher present had learned CPR last week and knelt on the ground for almost 5 minutes. By the time the ambulance arrived, his weak heartbeat had recovered, and he was finally discharged from the hospital with almost no sequelae. In fact, cardiopulmonary resuscitation does not have as many thresholds as mentioned on the Internet. You don’t have to remember the compression depth to a few centimeters. As long as you place the heel of your palm at the midpoint of the line connecting the patient’s nipples, straighten your arms and press down vertically, just hard enough to sink the chest by 3 or 4 centimeters. You can perform 100 to 120 compressions per minute. If you have not received professional artificial respiration training, don’t rush in and blow air. The rescue efficiency of simple chest compressions is several times better than doing nothing at all. If there is an AED (automated external defibrillator) nearby, it will be easier. Just turn on the machine and follow the voice prompts to apply the electrode pads. The machine will judge whether to defibrillate by itself, so there is no need to worry about electrifying the wrong person.

As for the more minor accidents such as bleeding and sprains encountered in daily life, the operation is even simpler. A few months ago, a child downstairs fell while playing skateboard, and the scratches on his arms were bleeding profusely. The parents were so panicked that they put tissue on the wound and rubbed it hard, which made the surface mucous membrane worse. In fact, just use a clean lint-free cloth or sterile gauze to press on the wound. Don't rub it back and forth. If bleeding occurs in the limbs, lift the arms and legs higher than the heart, and most of them can be stopped quickly. If you encounter an extreme situation of arterial bleeding, tie a wider cloth strip to the side of the wound near the heart, and loosen it for 2 minutes every 40 minutes to avoid ischemia and necrosis of the limbs.

Speaking of this, I think of Aunt Zhang, who was performing square dancing in the community last week. She stepped on her sprained foot and rubbed it hard on the spot. She even went home and used a hot towel to apply it. The next day, it was swollen like a freshly steamed sourdough bun and she couldn't even put on shoes. In fact, within 72 hours after a sprain occurs, you should apply ice, don't rub, don't apply heat, and don't force yourself to walk. If the pain is so severe that you can't move at all, don't move or pull. It's most likely a fracture. It's safest to wait for medical care to deal with it.

Another skill that can easily save lives is the Heimlich maneuver. Last month, a relative's 3-year-old child got stuck in his throat after eating peanuts, and his face turned purple from holding it in. His father happened to have seen a first aid video before. He held the child from behind, put his fist on the two fingers above the belly button, and quickly pushed inward and upward three times, and the peanuts spurted out. If you encounter a baby under 1 year old who has something stuck, don't hold it like this. Turn the baby over face down, lie on your arm and pat the position between the two shoulder blades on the back. Most of them can be photographed. Don't blindly reach out to clasp the child's throat, as it can easily push the foreign object deeper.

Oh, by the way, there is another very controversial operation which is pinching the middle of a person. Many elders believe that pinching the middle of a person can wake them up if they faint. There is also a view in the field of traditional Chinese medicine that stimulating this acupuncture point can promote awakening. However, most modern emergency systems do not recommend this operation. If a person has a cardiac arrest, you can It's useless to pinch the philtrum. If it's just an ordinary syncope such as hypoglycemia or heatstroke, you can wake up even if you don't pinch and lie down for a few minutes. On the contrary, many people are careless and can easily pinch the local skin. They even raise the patient's head too high when pinching, causing vomit to be choked into the trachea and cause an accident. Now when you encounter a person who has fainted, first tap him on the shoulder and shout twice to see if there is a reaction. Then feel for the carotid artery on the side of the neck to see if there is a beating. If there is no beating, quickly perform CPR and call 120. If there is a reaction, turn him to his side. Don't choke on vomit by lying on his back. Just wait for him to recover on his own or for the ambulance to arrive.

In fact, these skills are really not advanced. Nowadays, many communities, companies, and business districts will organize free first aid training. If you take two hours to practice it once, you can basically remember it.