First aid and emergency health training content

The core content of the current standardized first aid and emergency health training for the general public can be summarized as three major modules: "basic life support + common emergency treatment + risk prediction and avoidance", supplemented by customized practical content for different occupations and scenarios. It is by no means as simple as the popular stereotype of only teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the Heimlich maneuver.

Last week, when I was doing popular training in an old town community, a retired aunt raised her hand and asked, saying that ten years ago, when the organizational organization taught first aid, they taught you to put a towel in your mouth to prevent biting your tongue during epileptic seizures. Why has everything changed now? This is actually a typical controversial point in the iteration of first aid knowledge: Domestic general first aid textbooks before 2015 do have operational requirements for stuffing soft objects to prevent tongue bites, but after the 2020 update of the international cardiopulmonary resuscitation guidelines and the simultaneous adjustment of domestic regulations, it has been clearly opposed to epileptic seizures Do not put anything into the patient's mouth at all times, and do not forcefully press the limbs to avoid causing airway obstruction, tooth damage, or soft tissue contusion. In our current training, we will clearly explain the background of the old and new requirements so that everyone can understand the reasons for the adjustment, and we will not deny previous experience across the board.

Let’s first talk about the basic life support module that everyone is most familiar with. Many people learn this when taking the first aid certificate exam. However, when we actually conduct non-certified popular training for the general public, we rarely start pressing and pressing on the manikin. The last time I conducted a training for CBD white-collar workers, I started with a live video of a sudden death of an employee at an Internet company last year. In the video, colleagues gathered in a circle and no one dared to do it. I knew that what everyone lacked was never the knowledge of "compression depth of 5-6cm, frequency of 100-120 times/minute", but the confidence to "dare to do it and not make mistakes." Oh, yes, there is still a quarrel in this industry: one school of thought insists that whether it is certification or popular training, the details must be strictly followed according to the operating standards, and any difference of 1cm will not be considered qualified. ； The other group believes that ordinary people may not encounter a cardiac arrest scenario once in their lives. They should first teach "if you dare to do it, it is better to do it if you don't do it." Even if the compression depth is shallower, it is better than standing and waiting for 120. The controversy has not yet reached a unified conclusion. In our usual training, we usually take into account both sides, first give everyone reassurance, and then slowly adjust the details of the movements.

In addition to life-and-death emergency situations such as sudden arrest and suffocation, the most common emergencies that people consider "non-fatal" account for the most training time. For example, in summer training for outdoor workers, heat stroke must be discussed. Don’t think that heat stroke is just a matter of fainting and drinking a bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi water. Last year, a courier boy in our jurisdiction fainted due to heat stroke. Passers-by kindly fed him half a bottle of Zhengqi water and poured ice water on him, which actually aggravated the symptoms. Here we also need to clarify the differences in treatment in different fields: the traditional Chinese medicine emergency system does recommend Huoxiang Zhengqi water for mild summer colds, but the emergency regulations of Western medicine make it clear that patients with heat stroke who have developed unconsciousness cannot be given any oral medicine, nor can they be showered directly with ice water. You need to move to a cool place, untie your collar, and wipe the neck, armpits, groin and other major arteries with warm water to cool down. When we tell the adults and aunts in the community, we usually mention both. We first teach you to distinguish the difference between ordinary heat stroke and severe heat stroke, and then choose the corresponding treatment method. There are also things like running cold water for 15 minutes when you are burned, getting a rabies vaccine even if you are scratched by a cat or dog, even if there is no bleeding, and not raising your head when nose bleeding, but pinching your nose for 10 minutes. These bits of knowledge may seem scattered, but they are the most likely to be used by ordinary people.

Many people don't know that nearly 20% of qualified first aid training does not teach "how to save" at all, but "how not to get into trouble" and "how to protect yourself." Last time we trained primary and secondary school teachers, we spent an entire hour talking about how to troubleshoot first aid hazards in the classroom: table corners should be wrapped with anti-collision strips, disinfectant should be placed out of the reach of children, children should not be chased away with pencils in their mouths during class, and make sure the environment is safe before rescuing people - for example, if someone gets electrocuted, don't pull directly, pull the switch first. ； If someone is hit on the road, put a warning sign 50 meters away before going to rescue the person. Don't get yourself involved. A student learned this before. When he was involved in a high-speed rear-end collision last year, he first stopped the vehicle coming from behind to avoid a second accident. Otherwise, he would probably not be able to save anyone and would end up with another injured person.

Don’t think that all training content is a set of templates. We make a lot of adjustments when training different groups. To train people in the catering industry, the Heimlich maneuver should be practiced until everyone can do it with their eyes closed, and emergency measures for food poisoning should also be included. ； Provide training to workers at the construction site, focusing on applying pressure to stop bleeding due to trauma, how to temporarily fix fractures, and not to move the injured casually ； When training mothers, most of the time is spent talking about how to deal with children choking on milk, febrile convulsions, and mistakenly taking medicines. There is also the recent controversial issue of whether children should cover their sweat when they have a fever. We will not directly say which is wrong. We will lay out the evidence-based suggestions of pediatricians and the experience of the older generation: below 38.5℃, if the mental state is below 38.5℃, physical cooling can be done first.

In the final analysis, first aid training has never been designed to turn ordinary people into professional emergency doctors. It is just so that you will not panic when something happens and know what you can and cannot do. Even if you can just tell the exact address and explain the patient's symptoms when calling 120, it is not in vain. During the last training, a young man said that his grandma had a fish bone stuck in it and he was so panicked that he almost had an accident by stuffing rice with her. After learning the lesson, he knew that he should first let the old man cough and go to the hospital immediately if he couldn't cough. Last week, he happened to encounter his nephew who got stuck in a melon seed shell. He patted his back twice as taught and it came out. You see, this is the most practical meaning of the training.