FIRST AID

• Duty to act (duty of care and responsibility)


  No one is required to render first aid under normal circumstances. Exceptions include situations where a person's employment designates the rendering of first aid as a part of described job duties.
• Abandonment


  Leaving a victim after starting to give help without ensuring someone else will continue the care at the same level or higher.
• Negligence


  Not following accepted standards of care and causing injury to the victim.
• Ways a first aider can breach their duty

  • Acts of omission (failure to do what a reasonably prudent person with the same training would do)
  • Acts of commission (doing something that a reasonably prudent person would not do)
• Injury and damages that can be inflicted


  • Physical damage
  • Physical pain and suffering
  • Mental anguish
  • Medical expenses
  • Loss of earnings and earning capacity
• Good Samaritan law


  Laws that reduce the liability to those who choose to aid others who are injured or ill, though it does not protect you from being sued, it just significantly reduces your liability. They are intended to reduce bystanders' hesitation to assist, for fear of being prosecuted for unintentional injury or wrongful death.
• Requirements for Good Samaritan immunity


  • Acting during an emergency
  • Acting in good faith (with good intentions)
  • Acting without compensation
  • Not guilty of any malicious misconduct or gross negligence toward the victim
• Assisting with medications


  Helping the victim locate the medication, taking the cap off of a bottle of pills, and reading the label to ensure that the victim is going to take the right medication.
• It is good practice to record in writing the details of any first aid you provide at an incident. This information may become necessary if the incident is brought to court. In the workplace, it is a requirement to record all incidents.
• Common transmittable diseases

  • Herpes
  • Meningitis
  • Tuberculosis
  • Hepatitis
  • Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
• Precautions to prevent transmission of diseases

  • Universal precautions (strategies to prevent transmission of bloodborne pathogens)
  • Body substance isolation (precautions to isolate or prevent risk of exposure from body secretions and other body substances)
• Principles of emergency action


  1. Survey the scene

  2. Do a primary survey

  3. Seek medical attention/call for transport facilities

  4. Do secondary survey
• DOTS (Deformities, Open wounds, Tenderness, Swelling) cephalo-caudal survey

  • Head
  • Eyes
  • Neck
  • Chest
  • Abdomen
  • Extremities
• What is the 6 SAMPLE history

  • Signs and symptoms
  • Allergies
  • Medications
  • Past and present medical history
  • Last oral intake
  • Events leading prior to illness or injury
• Reasons to move a victim to a safe place

  • Fire or possibility of fire
  • Possibility of explosion
  • Electrical hazards
  • Risk of drowning
  • Extreme temperatures
  • Dangerous accident scene
  • Need to get another injured person
• The provision of immediate care to a victim with an injury or illness, usually affected by a lay person, and performed within a limited skill range.

  First aid
• What are the three Guiding principles of first aid (3 Ps)


  •Preserve life •Prevent further injury

  •Promote recovery
• Before giving first aid to a casualty it is necessary to ask for their permission to do so. If the casualty is able to respond they will respond either yes or no. If the casualty is unable to respond, that is they are unconscious, it is taken for granted they would have provided permission if they were conscious / able to.

  Consent (permission)
• The nature of first aid means that most people will only have a limited knowledge, and first aiders are advised to seek professional help (for instance from the ambulance service or a doctor) when they reach the limits of their knowledge.

  Limitations
• 5 Characteristics of a good first aider

  Gentle Resourceful

  Sympathetic

  Tactful

  Observant
• What are the 4 Objectives of first aid?

  Preserve life Prevent further harm and complications Seek immediate medical help Provide reassurance
• Expressed or verbal consent 


  Communicated to you either verbally or in written form
• Implied consent 


  Happens when you are unable to communicate with the victim
• Negligence requires three elements to be proven:

  having a duty to act

  breaching that duty by giving substandard care

  and causing injury and damage.