What are the basic first aid skills?

The core of basic first aid skills that ordinary people can use every day and are not difficult to learn are cardiopulmonary resuscitation (including the use of AED), Heimlich maneuver, wound hemostasis bandaging, emergency treatment of burns and scalds, and preliminary treatment of acute poisoning. The rest, such as fracture fixation and special population transport skills, are advanced content. Ordinary people understand the basic principles and are enough to cope with most scenarios.

I have been a community first aid volunteer for almost 6 years, and I have encountered too many regrets about missing the golden treatment time because others did not know first aid. The most impressive thing was that a 70-year-old man at the gate of the community the summer before last had a heart attack and fell to the ground while walking. People in a circle only dared to call 120 and did not dare to go to the hospital. Fortunately, there was a second-year junior high school student next to him who had just finished first aid class at school. After kneeling on the ground for less than four minutes, the uncle regained his weak breathing and was able to blink by the time the ambulance arrived. The emergency doctor said that if it were delayed by another two or three minutes, the consequences would be disastrous.

Speaking of which, there is still some controversy about whether ordinary people should learn how to operate AEDs. Some experts believe that non-professionals have not received systematic training and may cause additional injuries due to operating errors. It is not recommended to start blindly.； But most of us who are on the front line of emergency services feel that there is no need to worry about this. Today's AEDs are fully voice-guided. You just need to apply the electrodes and follow the prompts. The machine will even judge whether to discharge by itself. There is no problem of accidental contact. Even if you have only seen the operation process once in a short video, following the prompts is better than waiting for an ambulance to come.

In fact, most of the basic first aid skills correspond to scenes that we can see everywhere in our daily lives: using Heimlich when a foreign object is stuck in the throat, using pressure bandage when cutting vegetables, falling and bleeding, being splashed by oil while cooking, or being scalded by hot water, knowing how to rinse with cold water for 15 minutes before sending to the hospital, knowing whether to induce vomiting or feeding milk to neutralize first when an elderly person mistakenly takes the wrong medicine or a child accidentally swallows detergent. These operations can be mastered after practicing for more than ten minutes, and are not as difficult as everyone thinks.

I also encountered an incident last year at a relative's house. My three-year-old grandson suddenly got stuck in his throat while eating grapes. His face turned red and he couldn't breathe. The mother had learned Heimlich in the first aid training organized by her work unit. She picked her up and pressed her belly three times, and the grapes spurted out. She didn't even go to the hospital. If it were an unlearned parent, just hurriedly packing his things and sending them to the hospital, the ten minutes on the road would be enough for the child to suffer from lack of oxygen and cause serious problems.

Many people are always worried about "What should I do if I make a mistake in my operation?" In fact, the Civil Code already has a liability exemption clause for well-intentioned rescuers. As long as you do not intentionally cause harm, you do not need to be held responsible even if your operation is slightly flawed. To put it bluntly, first aid skills are like the Band-Aids and antipyretics you keep in your drawer at home. You may not need them at ordinary times, but when you encounter an emergency, knowing how to use them will be life-saving. If you are really interested, go to the Red Cross or community service center near your home and ask. Most of them have free practical training. Taking half a day to practice them is much more useful than watching dozens of short videos on first aid science.