First aid and emergency health training content

In essence, the core of qualified first aid and emergency health training is to teach ordinary people three types of content: "practical skills to dare to use, judgment to avoid risks, and cognitive common sense not to step into pitfalls." It is by no means a single skill teaching that "learning CPR is enough" circulated on the Internet.

A while ago, I worked with Sister Zhang from the community health center to provide training for retired elderly people in the street. At the beginning, an aunt raised her hands and shouted: "Girl, I have a bad memory, just tell me the most important move, can you do it? I can't remember the others" - I have encountered this kind of question no less than a hundred times, and to be honest, I can understand it. Most people come to the training with the mentality of "learn one and a half moves just in case", and no one wants to memorize a thick operation guide.

At present, domestic first aid training has always been controversial in two directions: one is the "standard school" that follows international guidelines and requires that all actions must be stuck within the parameters. For example, the compression depth of cardiopulmonary resuscitation must be 5-6 cm, the frequency must be 100-120 times/min, each artificial respiration blow must be more than 1 second, and the chest must be undulating to be qualified. Students are even required to memorize the differential diagnosis points of all emergencies. If they fail to meet the standards, they will not pass the assessment.； The other type is the "practicalists" who are rooted in communities and enterprises. They believe that ordinary people are not certified medical nurses. The first thing to solve is the problem of "dare to go". Even if the compression depth is shallower and the frequency is slower, even if they dare not do artificial respiration and only do chest compressions, it is better than standing by and watching people lose vital signs. There is no need to use the standards of professional medical care for ordinary people. There is no absolute right or wrong between these two views, but they are aimed at different training groups. When training security guards in schools and units, it is really necessary to set standards. It is more important to provide science popularization to ordinary residents and give priority to allaying concerns.

Last year, a 62-year-old Uncle Liu suffered a heart attack and fainted at the entrance of our community while walking. Two high school sophomores next to him who had just participated in the school's emergency training squatted beside them and did not dare to move at first, fearing that they would be held responsible for pressing the wrong button and that they would break the old man's ribs. Then he suddenly remembered that during the training, the teacher said, "As long as You are voluntarily saving people, and the good person law of the Civil Code will protect you. The risk of broken ribs is never as good as the risk of death." The two took turns pressing the button for 12 minutes. When 120 was reached, the uncle still had a spontaneous heart rate. Later, he was transferred to the general ward after staying in the ICU for a week. Now he still plays chess at the gate of the community every day.

Many people's impression of first aid training is limited to cardiopulmonary resuscitation and Heimlich. In fact, there are many more common emergency scenarios than these. Let’s talk about a foreign object stuck in the throat. A mother told me before that the training she attended said that as soon as her child has something stuck in his throat, he should immediately pat his child’s back upside down and perform Heimlich. But last time her child ate peanut cards and he was still crying and coughing. She patted the child twice this way, but the peanut chips were sucked deeper into the bronchus. Finally, she went to the hospital to take them out with a bronchoscope. This is actually a controversial point: some trainers believe that immediate intervention is necessary as long as symptoms of throat congestion occur, while other trainers with emergency clinical background will repeatedly emphasize that as long as the patient can still speak, cough on his own, and is conscious, let him cough on his own first. Blind slaps on the back and impact on the abdomen may displace the foreign body and cause more serious blockage.

In addition to these first aids for injuries and emergencies, reliable training now also adds a lot of daily emergency health content, such as how to deal with heat stroke on hot days. Drinking Huoxiang Zhengqi water is not useful for everyone suffering from heat stroke. If you have symptoms of heat stroke such as confusion and body temperature exceeding 40 degrees, the first thing is to move the person to a cool place and take off clothes to physically cool down. Call 120 immediately. Pouring Huoxiang Zhengqi water may delay time.； If someone faints due to hypoglycemia, don't stuff candy into the person's mouth. If the person is already unconscious, the candy can easily get stuck in the trachea and cause suffocation. Turn the person sideways first to avoid choking on vomit and cough, and then feed the person with candy after they wake up. ； Even misunderstandings that everyone has heard since childhood, including how to deal with being bitten by a cat or a dog, whether to apply toothpaste when burned or scalded, whether to raise your head when a nose bleeds, will be broken down and discussed in the training.

I have been doing emergency training for almost 4 years. To be honest, I feel that the most overlooked thing is not operational skills, but two things that many trainings do not focus on: one is on-site risk investigation. I have seen too many people see someone fainting. The first reaction is to rush to save the person, without paying attention to whether there are leaking wires, traffic, or falling debris around. The person fails to save but gets himself in. This is the biggest loss.； The other is psychological counseling after rescue. Last year, a trainee rescued a passerby who died suddenly. Although the person was not saved in the end, he felt guilty for almost half a year. He always felt that he did not save the person because he did not rescue the person correctly. This kind of psychological pressure is actually encountered by many ordinary people after rescuing people. Reliable training will give everyone vaccinations in advance. As long as you operate according to the regulations, even if the final result is not good, it is not your fault.

People often ask me, is it worth spending half a day on first aid training? I say every time, even if you forget all the operations after learning, just remember two things: be able to tell the specific address and the patient's status when calling 120, and don't just join in the fun and give directions when someone has an accident. The training fee will not be wasted. After all, our emergency training for ordinary people has never been to train everyone to become certified first aiders. We just hope that when something happens, you will not just stand around and cry in panic, but you will have more confidence to help others.