What are the requirements for basic first aid skills?

First keep the bottom line of life, then avoid the worsening of the injury, and finally reduce the pain of the injured as much as possible. The core red line in the whole process is to never force the situation to cause additional trouble for subsequent professional treatment.

The most unfortunate case I encountered when I was on duty in a community emergency department two years ago was that my uncle fell while walking in the community. The old man who was traveling with him was afraid that he would freeze, so he pulled the man up by his arms. Originally, it was just a slight fracture of the distal radius, but such a pull directly caused the broken bone to shift and pierce the surrounding soft tissue. This problem could have been solved by manual reduction, but in the end, he had to undergo a plate fixation surgery, which was a serious disaster.

Many people first learn various operations when learning first aid. In fact, the judgment requirements in the first step are even higher. Take the most familiar "pinch the person" as an example. The current opinions in the industry are not completely unified: many emergency clinicians believe that for simple syncope caused by vagus nerve excitement, pinching the person to stimulate acupuncture points can indeed speed up awakening. ； However, a large number of evidence-based medicine studies have pointed out that many ordinary people have incorrect posture when pinching someone. They cover the face of the injured person with their whole palm, which may easily block the mouth and nose and cause suffocation. It is safer to pat the shoulder and shout first, and feel the carotid artery to judge vital signs.

Don't think that judgment is a trivial matter. The prerequisite for operation is that you must first figure out whether to take action. Take cardiopulmonary resuscitation as an example. You really can't just pounce on someone when you see them fainting. Last year, we received an emergency call from a shopping mall. The young man was kind-hearted. When he saw his aunt lying on the ground, he went up to her and applied chest compressions. As a result, she fainted due to hypoglycemia and was still breathing on her own. Such compressions directly broke two ribs and punctured her pleura. A good thing almost turned into a bad thing. The correct requirement is that you must first confirm that the person is unconscious, not breathing, and has no carotid pulse, and then start performing CPR. It doesn't matter if you can't remember the depth and frequency of compressions. As long as you don't press blindly when the person still has vital signs, you will already be better than most people who don't understand.

There is another requirement that many people are not aware of, which is that you must be able to "call for help" and don't always think that you can do everything on your own. In the high-speed rear-end accident last month, a passing nursing student did a particularly good job. She did not rush to pull the driver who was stuck in the front seat. She immediately called 120, accurately reported the specific station number and direction of the highway, and explained that the driver was trapped, had active bleeding on the head, and was confused. 120 directly brought the demolition team and the corresponding hemostasis and anti-shock drugs. It saved at least 12 minutes compared to on-site re-evaluation, and the prime time for trauma first aid was only those ten minutes.

In fact, for ordinary people, basic first aid does not require you to be able to handle all situations like an emergency doctor. You can not move casualties with suspected fractures or spinal injuries, remember to use the Heimlich maneuver to push up on the abdomen when someone is choking, and know how to take clean hair when there is bleeding. If you can put a towel or clothing on the wound and call 120 to tell where it is and what happened, then it has fully met the standard - after all, we learn basic first aid, which is the cushion before professional rescue comes. We do not seek meritorious service, but seek not to cause trouble. If we can help stabilize the vital signs, it is better than anything else.