Preschool safety and first aid

The priority of risk avoidance is much higher than that of emergency first aid. The bottom line of all first aid operations is "not causing secondary harm." There is no universal process that can be applied to all scenarios. It must be flexibly adjusted based on the child's age and actual injury.

I have been a safety supervisor in preschool education settings for 7 years, and I have seen too many cases where small accidents turned into major accidents due to cognitive biases. Last spring, a middle class child in a private kindergarten on the outskirts of the city took advantage of the teacher's break to grab a pistachio from the pocket of the child next to him and swallowed it. The young teacher in charge of the class at that time had his first reaction was to reach out and pick it up, but instead pushed the foreign object deeper into the airway. The child's face turned purple. Fortunately, the health doctor rushed over and used 1- The Heimlich maneuver adapted to a 3-year-old child spit out the core in less than 10 seconds. Thinking about it now, I still feel scared - if you search for first aid tutorials on the Internet, most likely they will only say "use the Heimlich for foreign objects stuck in the throat". No one tells you that if an untrained person reaches out to pick it, it will most likely not be helpful.

When it comes to specific first aid operations, in fact many common solutions are now controversial, and there is no absolutely correct standard. Take the treatment of burns and scalds as an example. One method is the five-step method of "rinsing off the foam and covering it up" which has been used for more than ten years. All burns and scalds are required to be rinsed with cold water for 15 minutes before any subsequent treatment. ； The other is an adjustment plan proposed by pediatric emergency clinics in recent years: If there is a deep second-degree burn with broken skin and oozing fluid, you cannot soak it for a long time or take a shower with cold water. Instead, you must first cover it lightly with clean sterile gauze and then send it to the doctor immediately to avoid wound infection. I met a grandma before. Her grandson knocked over the warm porridge on the table when he was just learning to walk, and his arm turned red. She listened to the advice of the neighbors in the community and applied a thick layer of toothpaste. Later, the wound became inflamed and left a light brown scar. The old lady regretted it. In fact, if she had just flushed cold water for 10 minutes and went directly to the community hospital without applying anything, there would have been no subsequent problems.

Many people's understanding of "safety protection" is to take away all dangerous things: scissors are locked in cabinets, hot water bottles are placed on a two-meter-high shelf, and even outdoor slides only allow children to line up and slide one by one for fear of falling. However, a public kindergarten I investigated last year dared to put round-tipped scissors and cups of warm water below 40 degrees within easy reach of the middle class children. The teacher spent two classes teaching the children how to hold the scissors and how to catch water without spilling. According to statistics in one semester, their collisions and burns were 32% less than those in kindergartens of the same size that were fully closed. Of course, this approach is also very controversial. Many parents directly go to the principal to protest, saying who will be responsible if their children poke someone with scissors? There is no unified conclusion in the academic circles. To put it bluntly, it depends on the situation: if there is only one old man looking after the two children at home and he cannot take care of them at all, then it is definitely safer to take away all the dangerous things. ； If the teacher-to-child ratio in the kindergarten is high enough, the teacher can keep an eye on the child and allow the child to learn how to get along with "dangerous objects" within a controllable range, which can actually reduce the probability of him getting into trouble out of curiosity.

Many parents like to save a bunch of first aid lists on their mobile phones and memorize them by heart. But when something happens, they panic and their hands shake. For example, if your child has a fever and convulsions, would your first reaction be to pinch the child or put a spoon in his mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue? I met such a parent last year. His child had a febrile convulsion. He forced a stainless steel spoon into the child's mouth, causing the child's two deciduous teeth to collapse and causing additional damage. Nowadays, pediatric clinical practice has long made it clear that children with febrile convulsions do not need to stuff anything or pinch the child. All you need to do is turn the child over and put it on a flat place, untie the collar, and wait until he is done with the seizure. Send him to the hospital in time. Most febrile convulsions will stop on their own within 5 minutes. If you interfere blindly, accidents are more likely to happen.

Every time I give training to parents, I never ask them to memorize all the first aid steps. It’s really unnecessary. You are not a professional health care practitioner. You only need to do two things: First, squat down and walk around the house at your child's height to see if the corner of the table just hits his head, whether there is a protective cover on the socket, whether there are whole nuts and coins on the coffee table, and whether there are small odds and ends that he can get on the shoe rack at the door. If these risks are avoided, 90% of accidents will not happen. ； Second, save the 24-hour phone number of a hospital with pediatric emergency care near your home in your mobile phone address book, and save the contact information of a community health doctor. If you encounter something that you are not sure about, it is better to call and ask first than to make blind decisions.

To be honest, preschool children are inherently curious and active. You cannot raise them in a sterile box. Bumps and bumps are common. Don’t panic when you see your child injured. You just need to remember that being on the defensive is better than anything else.