How To Give Emergency First Aid – Vital First Aid Courses

13Dec 2022 by Josh Vasi

The Four First Aid Steps Are:

  1. Assess: the situation
  2. Plan: your approach and prioritise the injuries.
  3. Implement: your plan and triage the situation.
  4. Evaluate: the situation after treatment, monitor and treat for shock, and monitor ABCs until help arrives.
emergency first aid training

How to give emergency First Aid, take lifesaving First Aid courses, and what supplies you need for a First Aid kit all begin here with this article. Let’s glove up and get into the body of information elbow-deep.

When you think about stumbling across an accident, how would you be able to render assistance if you have never taken a First Aid course and don’t know what to do to save a life? Could your conscience rest if you could have easily saved a life by knowing how to perform CPR, but you never got around to learning how to do it correctly?

Lifesaving First Aid Courses

Skills training college is a government-accredited, nationally recognised Registered Training Organisation providing First Aid courses for every need.

How Do You Give Simple First Aid Treatment

When we say ‘Simple First Aid Treatment’, we mean the minor, easily fixable situations that can be taken care of on the spot and do not need follow-up medical attention. In this scenario, we presume a minor cut that results in superficial capillary bleeding.

To give simple First Aid treatment, you apply and maintain firm pressure on the wound with your gloved hand or by using a clean pad, paper towel or sterile gauze dressing if possible. You apply and maintain firm pressure for five minutes and then check to see if the bleeding has stopped. If still bleeding, apply firmer pressure and hold until the bleeding does stop. Then clean and sterilise the wound and apply a cover to protect the wound and prevent infection.

If the bleeding does not stop within ten minutes with constant firm pressure, you may need to seek help from your GP or local Accident and Emergency department.

If the blood spurts out with each pump of the heart, then the patient has an arterial bleed that requires calling 000 in Australia or the emergency services in your country. A tourniquet will be required to control bleeding in an arterial rupture.

What Are The Five Objectives Of First Aid

The Five Objectives Of First Aid Are:

  1. Preserving life
  2. Preventing injury from getting worse
  3. Aiding recovery
  4. Relieving pain
  5. Protect the unconscious

What Are Basic Skills For First Aid Responders

First Aid skills are taught, and the best place to learn those skills is through a registered training organisation or an organisation like Surf Life Saving Australia. There are also privately owned accredited Registered Training Organisations that specialise in providing the latest training with nationally recognised certification upon completion, like Skills Training College, which provides one with several First Aid courses to suit every need.

6 Basic First Aid Skills Everyone Should Know

1. CPR Is Short For Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

CPR is the most important First Aid skill to know, above all others! CPR is short for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. CPR consists of 30 chest compressions and 2 rescue breaths, formerly called mouth-to-mouth breaths. CPR is ideally given at a rate of 120 compressions per minute and is often easiest to provide when you hum the Bee Gees song, Stayin’ Alive, as you apply the compression to the beat.

2. Heimlich Manoeuvre: In Australia, This Move Is Called The Five & Five Method

Semantics on what you choose to call it. The premise behind the Australian version is that you first apply five back blows to the upper top section of the back with an open palm. If that does not remove the blockage, you apply five stomach lifts. Place the clenched fist sideways into the abdomen, approximately 2 fingers able the navel, pull in sharply and lift up in unison. It should have a similar impact to being punched in the stomach without the violence of being punched in the stomach. Repeated in a 5 & 5 method until the blockage is clear or help arrives.

The person with the blockage should never lose contact with the ground at any time in the lifting process. You are trying to create back pressure in the intestines to push the blockage up and out of the mouth, not literally lift the person off their feet.

3. Stop The Bleeding

Blood is thin, and the body has approximately five litres of it at any given time. Due to it being thin and free-flowing, a little blood can look like a lot and create a panic that the person might bleed to death. In most cases, that is far from the truth. There are three types of bleeding to control.

4. Arterial

With each pump of the heart, a clear spurt of blood will be pushed some distance out of the rupture site and will be instantly identifiable as a severed artery that requires the application of a tourniquet immediately. All other First aid is useless if you cannot stop the blood from leaving the body when you provide chest compressions.

5. Venous

You have hit a vein, and while not life-threatening like an arterial rupture, depending on how the vein is cut, it may require a visit to your local GP or Accident and Emergency room. Apply direct pressure directly to the vein above the cut to stop blood flow but not cut off circulation. Keep firm pressure on the site until the bleeding stops after about five minutes or until you get to the hospital to be assessed. Veins cut lengthways down the vein tube will require sutures. Veins cut across the vein tube typically stop bleeding under pressure but will need to be clinically assessed by medical professionals if the injury was inflicted in the act of self-harm with the intention to take their life. If the injury is on a limb, you can lift the limb into the air and keep it higher than the heart to make it harder for the body to push the blood upwards and slow the bleeding process.

6. Capillary

Paper cuts and surface tears that slice into the top six layers of skin hurt more and bleed freely due to the nerves and capillaries under the skin. These cuts are quickly and easily treated by applying direct, firm pressure to the area until the bleeding stops. Salt can be used to seal the wound and sterilise the area. Band-aids can be used to cover the wound and keep dirt and debris from causing an infection. It is also a case of out-of-sight out of mind for most people once the sticking plaster has been applied.

Treat A Minor Burn

Instantly place the burn sight under cool running water for 20 minutes. The severity of the burn will need to be established, but most home burns are minor if smaller than a 20-cent piece and only surface level. These can be treated using a special burn cream and the use of ice packs with a light, non-stick pad and bandage if required to protect the burn while it heals. 

NEVER use a Band-Aid or stick a plaster on a burn!

Burns larger than a 20-cent piece or deeper than surface level will require professional assessment and treatment at a hospital ASAP.

Strap Sprains

Knowing how to correctly bandage any area of the body that has been strained or sprained to support an injury is one of the crucial elements of providing First Aid. Joints and limbs require firm bandaging techniques to be effective but not so firm as to cut off circulation and curtail movement completely. There is a right way and a wrong way to strap joints and limbs, and this will vary depending on the degree of sprain or strain.

Splinting A Fracture

Fractures require stability before mobilisation of the patient. No matter where on the limb the break occurs or what type of break it is, there is a procedure for splinting the limb correctly to stabilise the bones and prevent further damage from occurring.

All of these skills can be learned by taking an HLTAID011 Provide First Aid course with Skills Training College.

What Does DRSABCD Stand For In First Aid

We use DRSABCD protocols to assess and action an emergency First Aid situation and provide First Aid assistance where it is required in a standard manner that all First Aid responders implement.

DRSABCD stands for:

  • Danger
  • Response
  • Send for help
  • Airway
  • Breathing
  • Circulation
  • Defibrillation
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Defining Emergency First Aid

Any time you take or give someone two aspirin for a headache or apply a Band-Aid to a cut, you are technically performing First Aid in a non-emergency capacity.

Emergency First Aid is defined as being crucial to saving the life of someone in need who is unable to do it themselves. They may be unconscious, have had a heart attack or seizure, have been involved in a motor vehicle accident or have broken a limb doing something mundane. Things like bites from venomous animals or dogs all fall under the umbrella of emergency First Aid as, without immediate treatment, the person could die. Providing the correct First Aid promptly for the situation you encounter increases the chances the person will survive to live another day, thanks to you!

Ask yourself one question: If you were involved in an MVA that was the fault of a drunk driver, your car is on its roof, you are unconscious with broken bones, and there is petrol leaking from a ruptured fuel tank, do you want the person who finds you to have the basic First Aid skills to save your life and get you out of the wreckage and to safety with as little damage as possible to the existing injuries, or to be totally clueless as to what to do and where to start?

Now ask yourself a second question: Are you the person who could save that person’s life or the person who watches on helplessly as they die needlessly because you don’t have a clue what to do or where to start?

If the answer to the second question is the helpless bystander, then it is time you booked yourself onto a First Aid course. These days, First Aid courses can be undertaken online and for under $100. Checking out all of the RTOs in your area that offers accredited First Aid courses will get you the best price at a venue close to you, and they can be completed with same-day certification in one day.

One day out of your life makes all the difference between someone living or dying under your watch in an emergency!

What Supplies Do I Need In An Emergency First Aid Kit 

Emergency First Aid kits can be purchased as an all-inclusive product containing everything you need to assist in an emergency situation from a wide variety of sources. You can buy them in stores, chemists, shops, businesses, or online. Emergency First Aid kits exist for every industry and workplace with some specialising like Burns First Aid Kits, Fracture First Aid kits, etc.

There are hundreds of suppliers of First Aid kits for your family car and home, and most of them provide the basics for an emergency single-use situation for under the $20.00 mark. The more items the kit contains, the more costly they become and the more specialised they are, the higher the price. Shopping around and doing online research will get you the best deal on the day with the products you require for the purpose you need.

Where To Get Help In An Emergency

In Australia, you dial 000 for emergency services. An operator will answer and ask you which service you require, Police, Fire or Ambulance, and then they will connect you to the service required.

You cannot SMS or text an emergency to 000 in Australia at the time of writing. Seems bizarrely out of touch with the times and telecommunications available to society at large these days. That includes even if you are contacting emergency services because someone is in your home or you have been kidnapped and cannot verbally communicate but can send a text.

For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Community

For people who are Deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech difficulty. Call Triple Zero 000 with TTY or Speak and Listen. Your call gets answered fast. TTY users call 106.

Further Reading Material

This is the first article of six on How To Give Emergency First Aid.

The second article in this series of six articles is: How To Bandage A Hand.

If you still have not booked yourself onto a First Aid course, please take the time to look into it and find the time to make it happen. Emergencies are called emergencies because they are not planned events, and they have become life-endangering. You might need the skills you learn in our course to save the life of your drowning children, your partner having a heart attack, or your parents having a stroke.

You might need to assist a random stranger by injecting them with their Epi-pen or assisting them with using their inhaler when they have an asthma attack. There are no excuses for not having basic training in CPR and First Aid.

Reasons To Take A First Aid Course

  1. Learn skills to save lives
  2. Keep up to date with the latest advances in emergency First Aid
  3. Renew your expired CPR certificate
  4. Renew your expired First Aid certification
  5. Take an advanced First Aid course and learn more detailed skills
  6. Social interaction with real people face-to-face