If you do not work in an ambulance or in “hot spots”, then situations in which someone is in danger are quite rare in your life. However, they always happen at the wrong time – when we are not ready. And then you can provide first aid and even save a life, or you can do quite serious harm.
Don’t panic!
The very first mistake is to start panicking and grabbing your head (although it’s worse to grab a smartphone and shoot a video). It is very important to pull yourself together, at least in order to call and call specialists for help. In some situations, the bill goes for minutes, and you can not spend them on your own experiences in any way.
But sometimes first aid requires very little effort!
How to call an ambulance correctly?
It’s not difficult to call yourself. It is much more difficult to get someone from around to do it. Resuscitators have sad stories when dozens of eyewitnesses accounted for one victim – and not a single call to the ambulance.
The reason was found by psychologists: if more than two people gathered around you and the victim, the dispersal of responsibility begins. Most people think that someone has already called or will call.
What to do? Do not shout “call an ambulance”, but contact a specific person and then clarify whether there was a call. Similarly, it is necessary to act if you need to fence off the roadway or meet a medical team in the subway.
Don’t look for a pulse on your wrist
If a person has lost consciousness, first of all it is necessary to understand whether there is breathing and pulse. Most people are able to detect pulsation on the wrist – that’s just when blood circulation is impaired or stopped, this skill is practically useless.
If the blood flow is disrupted, the first thing the blood will go to the most important organs – to the brain and heart. And the peripheral arteries on the extremities will be spasmed. So you need to learn how to determine the pulse on the carotid artery.
The carotid artery runs from the edge of the cervical muscle, which goes from the angle of the lower jaw (under the ear) down. Find the muscle, no matter left or right, and slide your fingers towards the adam’s apple. Remember the place where the pulsation is well felt.
Determine the pulse on the carotid artery of another person by applying four fingers. Don’t click on it, it’s dangerous. A light touch is enough.
No need to give medicines!
A lot of sad stories are connected with how voluntary “rescuers” gave nitroglycerin to people with a suspected heart attack – and not one tablet at a time. Or, in case of loss of consciousness, unrelated to the heart, they resorted to “cardiac” drugs. You can’t do that.
Nitroglycerin is a drug that is given according to indications and only against a background of high pressure. If a myocardial infarction or other cardiac pathology develops against the background of low blood pressure, a person may develop a coma. The rest of the “heart medicines” also have a lot of contraindications.
People in a semi-conscious or unconscious state should not put anything or pour it into their mouth. Even if the cause of the condition is diabetes and something sweet could help.
All drugs – only if the victim is guided by what is happening and tells him what he needs. In addition, the name of the medicine and the dose will need to be reported to the ambulance staff.
A spoon in your mouth for epilepsy? Forget it immediately!
- The most persistent and most dangerous myth about helping with an epileptic seizure: you need to put a spoon in your mouth. Most are still sure that when a person has a seizure, he will bite off his tongue, so it is necessary to unclench his teeth and put a harder object in his mouth. It has already cost many patients with tooth epilepsy, and some even more serious consequences when dental fragments got into the respiratory tract or esophagus.
- There are also stranger beliefs: that you need to insert a tight tube into your mouth (for example, a pen case) or pull out your tongue and pin it to your collar. There is no benefit from these manipulations, and the harm is huge.
All this should be immediately forgotten, and if someone is trying to do this before your eyes or advises you to protect the patient from sabotage. Once again: even pink foam is not a reason to put something in your mouth!
The only thing that is really necessary is to put something soft under your head or try to hold it, protecting it from blows. You can also try to gently turn the person on his side to avoid aspiration with foam. If it doesn’t work out, turn on your side at the end of the convulsions.
Well, call an ambulance, note the duration of the attack and stay with the person until her arrival.
We treat temperature burns only with water!
No urine, oil, sour cream, alcohol solutions and other substances. Burn sites should be kept under cool water (not icy) at least 15 minutes, optimally – until the burned place becomes numb. This is necessary so that thermal energy does not spread and does not injure deep tissues.
After numbness, we apply any sterile bandage and wait for the doctors or go to the emergency room.
The only exception: chemical burns. Here the water will only harm: you need to carefully take off your clothes and try to shake the substance off the victim’s skin (not with your bare hands). Everything else is a matter for doctors.
No need to knock on the back if an adult choked
You can choke in different ways. If everything is accompanied by a strong cough, then there is no threat to life: the air flow passes, and a piece of food irritates the throat. Often in such a situation, fear interferes with normal breathing – so it’s better not to slap on the back, but to help calm down.
But in a serious case, when it is impossible to cough or inhale, it is necessary to act decisively. But don’t knock on the back: a piece of food can go lower. Here we need a Heimlich (Heimlich) technique.
- Stand behind the choked person, put your fist on his solar plexus so that the thumb falls into place below the ribs, but above the navel. Cover your fist with your other hand.
- Press hard several times on this place. There is a diaphragm there, the air from it will be able to push out food or another object that has got into the throat.
If the child choked:
- the baby should be firmly taken by the legs with one hand, turned upside down to face himself, patted on the back with the other hand. Do it over something soft or the knees of a second person, the child may break out;
- the second option: put the child’s stomach on your left knee, hold his legs with your forearm, hold his shoulders and neck with your left hand, pat between the shoulder blades with your right;
- in the same position, you can press on the root of the tongue to stimulate coughing or vomiting;
- an older child should be laid on a hard surface on his stomach and knocked between the shoulder blades.
No need to pull the victims out of the car
If after an accident a person gets out of the car by himself, you need to help, take him aside, give him the opportunity to sit down or lie down. Do not encourage movement, on the contrary – in a state of shock, many are not able to assess whether there are injuries.
If a person is trapped in a car, can’t move – you can’t touch. This is dangerous by dislocation of vertebrae, bone fragments in fractures or profuse bleeding if there is a penetrating wound. So the situation from the one in which doctors can help becomes incurable (“incurable”).
Cars explode extremely rarely after an accident. But the negative consequences of the active “help” of others are observed quite often.
No need to pull objects out of the wound
Fortunately, cinema is already teaching us that you can’t pull a knife out of a wound. Unfortunately, there are still films where the hero calmly does it, clamps the wound with his hand and moves on. Why is this incorrect?
If a sharp object has destroyed the tissues, but at the same time it blocks the vessels – simply because it is in the wound. Further bleeding stops. But when it is removed, the blood begins to flow out especially strongly. If large vessels are damaged, the victim can be lost in a matter of minutes.
What to do? To talk, try to press the place at the wound, preferably with a sterile napkin. If not, then just be there, ask for the name, write down the address, wait for the doctors.
Applying a tourniquet is a special case
This is another persistent misconception: if the bleeding is severe, then a tourniquet is needed. It is necessary to apply a tourniquet if the blood literally beats like a fountain, pulsates, the severed artery is almost visible. These are rare situations.
Most often, the bleeding is not so powerful and severe. It can be slowed down if you press the wound site with napkins and your own hands, a pressure bandage. And improper use of a tourniquet can cause a situation when you have to amputate a part of the body without indications – simply because of the consequences of illiterate first aid.
Mouth-to-mouth breathing is no longer relevant
More recently, we were taught to do mouth-to-mouth and mouth-to-nose artificial respiration as a standard of first aid. However, today it should be left to the doctors – they have special devices that really work (the Ambu bag).
According to European studies, artificial respiration techniques in cardiac arrest do not affect the survival of patients.
Indirect heart massage: new standards
Previously, it was believed that it was necessary to do both massage and artificial respiration. Let’s start with the fact that one person cannot do it, but according to the new standards, it will not be easy for two. So in a critical situation, concentrate on the heart. How and what to do if a person suddenly lost his breath and pulse?
- Put the victim on his back on a hard surface.
- Place one palm with the base against the chest, put the second one crosswise on top.
- Vigorously and strongly press with straight hands and palms on the chest, so that the sternum bends by 3-4 cm.
- Important: according to modern standards, you need to do 100 clicks per minute.
Do not stop if a rib is broken – this happens with a characteristic crunch, just follow the pressure force. This is not the best option, but it is necessary to save the heart and brain.
The best way to understand how hard and how often you need to press, what to do and what not to do in emergency situations is to take first aid courses and try everything on dummies and special simulators.