The relationship between first aid and emergency health is

First aid is the "first piece of the puzzle" of the emergency health system. It is the core buffer zone connecting pre-hospital acute risks and standardized in-hospital treatment. It not only undertakes the function of immediately stopping losses from sudden injuries, but also serves as the final tentacle of people's livelihood in the public health protection network.

Last summer, I was doing a free clinic in my old community in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou. I had just packed up my things and was about to leave when I heard someone shouting from the market that someone had fainted. I ran over and saw that it was Uncle Wang who often dispensed antihypertensive medicine. He had a heart attack while squatting by the vegetable stall picking eggplants, and he was unconscious. Aunt Zhang, who sells vegetables next to her, had just completed the first aid training in the community last month. She ran over with an AED (automated external defibrillator) at the entrance of the market. She performed chest compressions and defibrillation. In less than three minutes, Uncle Wang coughed and recovered. Later, he went to the hospital to get a stent. Now he comes to the market every day to buy vegetables. When he sees Aunt Zhang, he gives people a handful of vegetables grown at home.

Many people think this is enough. Doesn't knowing first aid mean that you have mastered emergency health? Not really. I used to do science popularization for an Internet company in Binjiang. The administrative girl complained to me, saying that last year the company spent tens of thousands of yuan to equip a complete emergency kit, and also hired someone to give a two-hour first aid class. However, this year a colleague got stuck in a fish bone during lunch. Dozens of people from the whole company gathered around him. He learned Heimlich and hemostatic bandages for half a dime, but in the end he called 120 in a panic and went to the hospital to get a bone. She was particularly aggrieved at the time, wondering why all the first aid knowledge she had learned was wrong when it came time to use it. In fact, first aid and emergency health are equated - don't swallow rice if a fishbone gets stuck in the throat, flush cold water for 15 minutes if you are burned or scalded, wash with soapy water immediately if scratched by a cat. These pre-common senses that do not require hands-on operation are originally part of emergency health, and first aid is just the last step to stop losses after a risk occurs.

It's interesting to say that there is actually no unified view on the weight of the two in the industry. There is a school of thought that first aid is the core of emergency health. As long as ordinary people are proficient in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Heimlich, and hemostatic bandaging, 80% of pre-hospital emergency risks can be overcome. Therefore, many cities are now promoting "national emergency science popularization". Last year alone, we gave nearly 200 lectures to communities, schools, and enterprises, and the density of AED installation is also increasing year by year. The other school of thought is more conservative. They believe that ordinary people without systematic medical training are prone to problems if they start blindly. The core of emergency health still depends on the system. For example, the 120 dispatch centers in many places now have a "pre-guidance" function. When you call 120, the dispatcher will teach you how to operate step by step. You don't need to learn in advance and you will not make mistakes. Both models are now being piloted, and each has its own applicable scenarios.

According to the "Report on the Prevention and Treatment of Sudden Cardiac Death in China" released by the National Center for Cardiovascular Disease in 2023, the number of sudden cardiac death cases in my country every year exceeds 540,000, and the out-of-hospital survival rate is only 0.8%. Among them, nearly 90% of the cases did not have anyone with first-aid capabilities around them at the time of onset, missing the golden 4-minute treatment window. I encountered a particularly unfortunate case when I was dispatching the police with 120. The young man was riding an electric scooter without a helmet. When he turned a corner, he was scraped by a car and fell to the curb. He landed head first. Onlookers were kind enough to help him up and sit him up. They also patted his face and asked, "Are you okay?" When he went to the hospital, it was found to be subdural hemorrhage. Originally, if he had been told to lie flat and not move as soon as possible, the bleeding would not have spread so quickly. He later lay in the ICU for half a month before he was out of danger. You see, this is a typical problem of "knowing how to order first aid but not understanding the logic of emergency health" - every step of first aid operations must comply with the underlying logic of emergency health of "avoiding risks first, then dealing with injuries", otherwise it will be a disservice.

To put it bluntly, emergency health is like the entire fire prevention system of your home. Remember not to pile debris in the corridor and check smoke alarms regularly. This is pre-emptive risk prevention and is part of emergency health.； If the frying pan catches fire while cooking, just pick up the fire blanket and cover it. This is first aid. ； If the fire breaks out into the living room, you have to call 119 and go to the hospital for professional treatment. You can’t just say that if you have a fire blanket at home, you don’t need to worry about the smoke, right? It can’t be said that it’s useless to buy a fire-extinguishing blanket anyway, right?

Anyway, I have been doing emergency science popularization for five years, and my biggest feeling is that there is no need to make the relationship between the two so clear, and there is no need to think that emergency health is such a high-level thing. When you watch the short video today, take a second look at Heimlich's technique. Tomorrow, you will know not to feed sugar water to a person who has fainted, and not to move a person who has fallen on his head. When someone faints, touch the carotid artery first and then call 120. These small things put together will create an extra safety gate for yourself and the people around you.