The most basic first aid is the initial process of assessing and knowing the needs of someone who is injured or having an accident, as possible due to choking, heart attack, allergies, drugs, accidents and the like. Remember that you should always seek medical help as soon as possible, but doing the right first aid can greatly help medical assistance in one’s health and life and death. Being ready in all situations can help you, your family and even people around you, if you want to learn about first aid or develop your first aid skills, you can find more complete information and even improve your ability to do first aid in “First aid training“.
The steps to do first aid are as follows:
Condition Assessment
Assessment of the condition is to analyze the conditions before the action begins. Since when the medical team was contacted, then from then on they must think to answer the following question.
What is the condition at that time?
- What might happen?
- How to deal with it?
- Early Assessment
- General impression
This activity is to analyze what is experienced by sufferers, whether trauma cases or medical cases. Cases of trauma are due to accidents, while medical cases are due to medical illnesses such as ulcers, tightness, drug allergies or other things.
Response
If previously it was an analysis and not an action, then this step had already begun to take action. This activity is an assessment of the response of the sufferer. Are victims in the category of conscious, able to communicate, or unconscious? When the victim is still conscious and can ask for help when the medical team arrives. While the sound is the condition of the sufferer who must continue to be invited to communicate to maintain awareness, you can try interaction by asking things that are happening and trying to keep him calm and not losing consciousness.
Circulation
This action is the activity of checking the pulse state at pulse points such as the wrist, groin, head arteries (near the neck). Checking the pulse near the neck is the best choice when the pulse points in the wrists and thighs do not get the right response, because the pulse near the neck is closest to the heart.
Airway
This action is an activity of checking the condition of the airway, whether the victim’s breathing is blocked or not, with the chin-lift head-tilt technique. The trick is to press the patient’s forehead until the patient’s head forms an angle with the horizontal plane then pull and push the lower jaw.
Breathing
The next activity is to check the condition of the victim’s breath. See if the victim’s chest appears up and down, listen for breathing sounds by placing your ear near the victim’s mouth and nose, feeling breathing with your cheeks.
If the victim breathes, but is unconscious, position him to sleep sideways by keeping his head and neck straight with his body. This will help prevent the tongue or vomit from blocking the respiratory tract.
If the victim is not breathing, do CPR.
Physical examination
Physical examination is done from head to toe by scanning. The things that must be identified are changes in shape, open wounds, pain, and swelling. Then the examination is carried out further by checking the frequency of the pulse, breathing frequency, blood pressure, and body temperature. The normal pulse rate is 60–90 times per minute, and the normal breathing frequency is 12–20 times per minute.
History of Sufferers
After the physical examination is done, then ask the patient about 6 things that are often used by the medical team. the first is the complaint felt by the sufferer, the last consumed medication, the last consumed food and drink, the illness, allergies, and how it happened.
Continuous Examination
After all, examinations have been carried out, we must remain vigilant for the patient during the evacuation to the nearest hospital. Therefore it is necessary to carry out further checks regularly. This examination starts by checking the patient’s response to the end.
Report on the Medical Team
After arriving at the nearest hospital, the helper must provide direct information about the sufferer. Reports that contain important points during handling, namely age and sex, main complaints, response rate, airway, breathing, circulation, physical examination, history of sufferers, and development of patients who are considered important.