Medical Emergency tips, advice and guides for the everyday teen.
The following is a guide I have written on Medical Emergencies with advice, tips, help and hopefully you will learn something from it and you never know when or where you may employ it.
I have tried to include topics and content that your parents/school would teach you. Basically I included things that isn’t normally covered and left out the common knowledge ones. Also I have tried to keep it simple and easy to understand, but if you come across a term you do not understand or a part, please reply and I will explain it for you.
All of it is from my brain, no sources or links were used.
If you have anything you would like to add to this or feel you have something to share, please post it here in a reply and I will review it and edit the main post if required and credit will be paid.
Table of Contents (Use CTRL F to quickly find a part.)
1. What is a Emergency?
2. Approaching a Emergency.
3. CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation).
4. Pillows and the Recovery Position.
5. Tourniquets.
6. Car Crashes/Accidents.
7. Safety while helping at a Emergency.
8. Ambulances.
9. 911, 000 or your local emergency line.
10. Myths and facts.
11. After the Emergency.
12 External Links and Further Reading.
1. What is a Medical Emergency?
A Emergency is anything that has a injured person(s) involved or a chance of injures being made. An Emergency is a sudden crisis requiring action from both by standees, witnesses and first responders.
Anyone harmed or at risk of harm that effects their medical wellbeing or a sudden crisis is classified as a Emergency.
2. Approaching a Emergency.
If you come upon a crash scene, or any scene where someone is injured anyway, you should try to help.
If you see a guy or girl lying on the ground, hurt, run over to them and bend down.
If they are not unconscious, ask them what is wrong and what happened. Make sure you tell them you are a First Aider and you want to help. If a crowd starts to gather, yell at them to stay back and that you are trained in First Aid and CPR and ask someone to call 911.
When you take first aid and CPR, one of the things they teach you is to never touch a conscious injured person if they are hurt without their permission. Honestly I think this is completely bullshit and wrong, because there isn’t a court on the face of this earth that would convict/jail you for helping someone or saving someone’s life.
Be careful when helping someone and use the following below for different injuries.
3. CPR.
FACT: It only takes five minutes after a person stops breathing for brain tissues to begin to die. Most ambulances and EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians, aka Paramedic) do not arrive in that time.
CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) is vital to keep someone alive until they arrive. CPR is basically and combines mouth to mouth breathing and chest compressions. CPR is very easy to learn and can be learnt at little or no cost through Sain John Ambulance, Red Cross or a local provider.
I can not stress this enough. If your performing CPR on a victim, do not EVER stop even when the EMTs/Paramedics/Fire Fighters pull up next to you. The only time you stop CPR is when the Paramedics/Fire Fighters tell you point blankly they are going to take over now. If you stop CPR once a ambulance arrives, it takes a little bit of time for the Paramedics to get set-up and in that time, the victim you were applying CPR to can die.
If your victim starts to breath, Continue doing CPR until their heart beat is normal or they wake up.
4. Pillows and the Recovery Position.
Placing pillows under a injured persons head who is lying down makes it harder for them to breath especially if the person is unconscious and the tongue has relaxed and fallen to the back of the person’s throat. Anyone who is breathing but unconscious should be placed in the recovery position: on their side.
5. Tourniquets
Applying a tourniquet to a limb can be more dangerous then good as it may cut off the circulation. Control bleeding by elevating the limb and pressing firmly on the wound(s) with a clean cloth, etc. Do not lift the cloth, etc to see how to wound is doing, if the blood soaks through, add more cloth, etc.
6. Car Crashes
As much as Hollywood likes to show that pulling people out of car crashes makes them a hero and is the right thing to do, it isn’t and it’s a stupid thing to do, hence below.
One wrong twist or pull could paralyse someone for life. If the neck or back is broken, improper movement can damage the spinal cord and disable or kill the person and a broken bone may lacerate a artery (aka the bone cuts it open).
Unless it’s a matter of life and death, there is no pulse and CPR is needed, or the vehicle is going to catch on fire (doesn’t happen much), do NOT pull them out of the car.
You may be a Senior First Aider or the fooking King of Scotland, but you do not have the proper training to make the call to pull a injured person out of a vehicles. Wait for the Paramedics or Fire Department who may need to employ the Jaws of Life just to get them out anyways.
While waiting with a injured person(s) in a vehicle, whenever its upside down, on its side, or normal, ensure that their airway is clear at all time. This must be done if the injured person(s) are unconscious because if their head for example is slumped forward, there is a good chance that their airway is blocked. Simply lift their chin or hold on to their head and keep it raised and normal to prevent airway blockage.
7. Safety while helping at a Emergency.
Every year average people stop and help injured people, some die because they themselves weren’t careful while helping someone.
If you, yourself are injured, you can not help anyone else. You are not James Bond or some Hollywood Character. Attempting to help someone while injured can make yours worst and could kill you.
When approaching a car crash scene or accident, be extremely careful, check for traffic and make sure someone’s not going to drive their vehicle into you or hit you.
Keep far away from cars under downed power lines, this is a accident waiting to happen. Yell over and tell any conscious person(s) in the vehicle to stay put and do not move and that help is on the way.
Do not touch anyone you think or know has been electrocuted (Does not count for lighting strikes.) until the power is turned off at it’s source.
Do not rush to help a stabbed or shot person until you are sure that the perpetrator has left the area. Don’t become another victim or attempt to subdue to perpetrator.
8. Ambulances.
Even if your on the way to have dinner with the President, you should stay by the injured person or accident scene until the Ambulance arrives. A ambulance is a casualty department on wheels, complete with oxygen, splints, spine immobilisers, heart defibrillators, other equipment and medicines. Also the ambulance crew may need to talk to you to find out information that could help them save the injured person or treat them.
The following is a guide I have written on Medical Emergencies with advice, tips, help and hopefully you will learn something from it and you never know when or where you may employ it.
I have tried to include topics and content that your parents/school would teach you. Basically I included things that isn’t normally covered and left out the common knowledge ones. Also I have tried to keep it simple and easy to understand, but if you come across a term you do not understand or a part, please reply and I will explain it for you.
All of it is from my brain, no sources or links were used.
If you have anything you would like to add to this or feel you have something to share, please post it here in a reply and I will review it and edit the main post if required and credit will be paid.
Table of Contents (Use CTRL F to quickly find a part.)
1. What is a Emergency?
2. Approaching a Emergency.
3. CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation).
4. Pillows and the Recovery Position.
5. Tourniquets.
6. Car Crashes/Accidents.
7. Safety while helping at a Emergency.
8. Ambulances.
9. 911, 000 or your local emergency line.
10. Myths and facts.
11. After the Emergency.
12 External Links and Further Reading.
1. What is a Medical Emergency?
A Emergency is anything that has a injured person(s) involved or a chance of injures being made. An Emergency is a sudden crisis requiring action from both by standees, witnesses and first responders.
Anyone harmed or at risk of harm that effects their medical wellbeing or a sudden crisis is classified as a Emergency.
2. Approaching a Emergency.
If you come upon a crash scene, or any scene where someone is injured anyway, you should try to help.
If you see a guy or girl lying on the ground, hurt, run over to them and bend down.
If they are not unconscious, ask them what is wrong and what happened. Make sure you tell them you are a First Aider and you want to help. If a crowd starts to gather, yell at them to stay back and that you are trained in First Aid and CPR and ask someone to call 911.
When you take first aid and CPR, one of the things they teach you is to never touch a conscious injured person if they are hurt without their permission. Honestly I think this is completely bullshit and wrong, because there isn’t a court on the face of this earth that would convict/jail you for helping someone or saving someone’s life.
Be careful when helping someone and use the following below for different injuries.
3. CPR.
FACT: It only takes five minutes after a person stops breathing for brain tissues to begin to die. Most ambulances and EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians, aka Paramedic) do not arrive in that time.
CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) is vital to keep someone alive until they arrive. CPR is basically and combines mouth to mouth breathing and chest compressions. CPR is very easy to learn and can be learnt at little or no cost through Sain John Ambulance, Red Cross or a local provider.
I can not stress this enough. If your performing CPR on a victim, do not EVER stop even when the EMTs/Paramedics/Fire Fighters pull up next to you. The only time you stop CPR is when the Paramedics/Fire Fighters tell you point blankly they are going to take over now. If you stop CPR once a ambulance arrives, it takes a little bit of time for the Paramedics to get set-up and in that time, the victim you were applying CPR to can die.
If your victim starts to breath, Continue doing CPR until their heart beat is normal or they wake up.
4. Pillows and the Recovery Position.
Placing pillows under a injured persons head who is lying down makes it harder for them to breath especially if the person is unconscious and the tongue has relaxed and fallen to the back of the person’s throat. Anyone who is breathing but unconscious should be placed in the recovery position: on their side.
5. Tourniquets
Applying a tourniquet to a limb can be more dangerous then good as it may cut off the circulation. Control bleeding by elevating the limb and pressing firmly on the wound(s) with a clean cloth, etc. Do not lift the cloth, etc to see how to wound is doing, if the blood soaks through, add more cloth, etc.
6. Car Crashes
As much as Hollywood likes to show that pulling people out of car crashes makes them a hero and is the right thing to do, it isn’t and it’s a stupid thing to do, hence below.
One wrong twist or pull could paralyse someone for life. If the neck or back is broken, improper movement can damage the spinal cord and disable or kill the person and a broken bone may lacerate a artery (aka the bone cuts it open).
Unless it’s a matter of life and death, there is no pulse and CPR is needed, or the vehicle is going to catch on fire (doesn’t happen much), do NOT pull them out of the car.
You may be a Senior First Aider or the fooking King of Scotland, but you do not have the proper training to make the call to pull a injured person out of a vehicles. Wait for the Paramedics or Fire Department who may need to employ the Jaws of Life just to get them out anyways.
While waiting with a injured person(s) in a vehicle, whenever its upside down, on its side, or normal, ensure that their airway is clear at all time. This must be done if the injured person(s) are unconscious because if their head for example is slumped forward, there is a good chance that their airway is blocked. Simply lift their chin or hold on to their head and keep it raised and normal to prevent airway blockage.
7. Safety while helping at a Emergency.
Every year average people stop and help injured people, some die because they themselves weren’t careful while helping someone.
If you, yourself are injured, you can not help anyone else. You are not James Bond or some Hollywood Character. Attempting to help someone while injured can make yours worst and could kill you.
When approaching a car crash scene or accident, be extremely careful, check for traffic and make sure someone’s not going to drive their vehicle into you or hit you.
Keep far away from cars under downed power lines, this is a accident waiting to happen. Yell over and tell any conscious person(s) in the vehicle to stay put and do not move and that help is on the way.
Do not touch anyone you think or know has been electrocuted (Does not count for lighting strikes.) until the power is turned off at it’s source.
Do not rush to help a stabbed or shot person until you are sure that the perpetrator has left the area. Don’t become another victim or attempt to subdue to perpetrator.
8. Ambulances.
Even if your on the way to have dinner with the President, you should stay by the injured person or accident scene until the Ambulance arrives. A ambulance is a casualty department on wheels, complete with oxygen, splints, spine immobilisers, heart defibrillators, other equipment and medicines. Also the ambulance crew may need to talk to you to find out information that could help them save the injured person or treat them.