Children's Safety and First Aid Open Class

Over 50,000 children are killed or injured in accidents every year in our country. 80% of these accidents could have been avoided through prior prevention. The remaining 20% ​​of sudden accidents can reduce the risk of death and disability by more than 70% as long as you master three core family first aid skills.

When I held a charity class in my old community last week, an aunt chatted with me for almost 20 minutes. She said that last year, her 3-year-old grandson got stuck in his throat after eating jelly. The whole family was so panicked that they took turns patting each other on the back, and the child’s face turned purple. Just as the nurse from the clinic downstairs passed by after get off work, she used the Heimlich maneuver to pop out the jelly in 3 seconds. If it had been two minutes later, the consequences would have been disastrous. She deliberately came half an hour early today to get a seat. She said she wanted to learn this method and never wanted to be frightened like that again.

Nowadays, there are actually two completely opposite voices regarding whether ordinary people should learn first aid for children: one is that first aid is a matter for doctors and nurses. Ordinary people have not received professional training, and blind operations can easily cause secondary injuries. There have indeed been cases in the past where parents slapped the back of a child with a stuck throat, patting foreign objects deeper into the bronchus, and finally required a bronchoscope to remove them.； Another saying is that parents should learn a complete set of first aid skills, and it is best to get a first aid certificate before they are qualified. I have seen the most diligent mother copying three notebooks full of knowledge points about CPR, fracture fixation, and poisoning treatment. When her child broke her knee, she was still so panicked that she wiped the wound with toilet paper and got all the scraps of paper into the wound.

I have been doing child safety science popularization for 6 years, and to be honest, these two views are a bit extreme. We ordinary parents are not professional first aiders, so there is no need to memorize all the knowledge points. First, we should understand the three most common types of accidents, which is enough to deal with 90% of family scenarios.

Let’s talk about the foreign object stuck in the throat that everyone is most concerned about. Children’s trachea is much thinner than that of adults. It is almost the thickness of a milk tea straw. A peanut or half a grape can block it tightly. If you really encounter a child with something stuck, don't slap the child on the back, and don't reach out to pick it. If the child is under 1 year old, turn the child over and lie on your arm. Put the head down and feet high and pat the middle of the shoulder blade. If it doesn't come out after patting it for 5 times, turn it over and press the middle of the chest with two fingers 5 times. Just cycle back and forth. ； For those over 1 year old, stand behind the child, make a fist with your hand and place it two fingers above the navel, wrap the fist with the other hand and punch it upwards quickly until the thing comes out. Oh, by the way, last time some parents asked me if that anti-choking eating artifact was useful? To be honest, jelly with holes and chopped nuts still have the risk of choking. The best prevention is not to feed whole nuts, jelly, and sticky glutinous rice balls to children under 3 years old. Don't chase them when eating, and don't make children laugh. No magic tool can work.

Let’s talk about the treatment of burns and scalds. There is still a lot of controversy about this: the older generation always said that applying toothpaste and soy sauce can relieve pain. In fact, this experience is not completely unreasonable. In the past, there was a lack of supplies and there was no condition to shower with cold water immediately. Applying toothpaste can temporarily isolate the air and reduce pollution. But now, running cold water for 15-20 minutes is the best solution. Do not apply toothpaste, soy sauce, aloe vera gel and other messy things to the wound. First, it will trap heat in the skin and aggravate the injury. Second, the pigmentation will also affect the doctor's judgment of the depth of the burn. I met a grandma last year. Her child knocked over the kettle. She quickly smeared the child with a thick layer of soy sauce. When he was sent to the hospital, the doctor couldn't see the wound clearly after wiping it for a long time, which made the child suffer a lot.

There is also the treatment of bleeding. The old first aid textbook does mention that for severe bleeding in the limbs, it should be pricked near the heart, but the latest guidelines no longer recommend ordinary parents to use this method - 95% of the bleeding we encounter in daily life are small wounds such as cuts and abrasions. Apply clean gauze or sterile towels directly to the wound. , it can basically be stopped by pressing it for three to five minutes. Only extreme cases of arterial blood spurting require the use of a tourniquet. It is difficult for ordinary people to judge whether it is arterial bleeding. If the position is wrong and the time is too long, it can easily cause limb necrosis. If there is really heavy bleeding that cannot be stopped, pressing the wound tightly and running directly to the hospital is better than anything else.

To be honest, I have been doing science popularization for so long, and the most common misunderstanding I have encountered is not that people don’t know first aid, but that they always feel that “accidents will not happen to my family.” Last month, a mother told me after a class that she felt that these things were not needed. She sent me a message within two weeks, saying that her child broke his chin while running at home. She was so panicked that she wiped it with toilet paper for a long time, but all the scraps of paper got into the wound. When she went to the hospital for debridement, the child cried heartbrokenly. She regretted it and shed tears. She said that if she had known better at that time, she would have listened carefully and how to deal with the wound. Don't believe it, children's accidents are so unpredictable. Maybe when you turned around to get a water glass, the child put the button in his mouth and knocked over the kettle.

Oh, by the way, here’s another little thing to remind you: don’t rush into learning first aid, first clear up the safety hazards at home. The anti-collision strips on the table corners, the anti-theft nets on the windows, and the protective covers on the panels should be installed as they should. Keep medicines, disinfectants, and sharp objects out of the reach of children. Prevention is always 100 times more important than first aid.

There are no test points that you must memorize in today's class. If you can remember these three sentences: "Don't pat it blindly if it's jammed, flush it first if it's hot, and press it if it's broken", then it will not be in vain. When you really encounter something, don't panic, take a deep breath before taking action, it will be more effective than memorizing 100 knowledge points.