First Aid Training - Learn How You Can Save a Life - For Companies and Individuals Alike

First Aid Skills Training - Not Just for Medical Professionals!

First Aid covers the initial treatment of an illness or injury. The first aid is often provided by a person who has received training in life saving techniques, and the treatment of injury and illness but is not a medical professional.

The treatment provided may save a persons life, or it may stabilise their condition and assist in their recovery.

The first aider is trained to provide treatment, and control the situation until the arrival of the medical professionals.

Effective first aid often consists of simple measures; many people acquire some of the basic skills as they go through life: applying a bandage or cleaning a cut, for instance. However, since the appropriate initial treatment for a casualty can be invasive or may pose additional risk to the patient if not handled properly, life-saving first aid requires training.

Who Can Benefit from Learning These Skills?

Training is relevant for everyone, as it is impossible to predict when and where first aid may be required. It is true that, on occasion, during an emergency, the ambulance call takers may give basic first aid instructions over the phone while the ambulance is on the way. However, many people are unable to respond because of panic or shock. It is only then that they realise the benefits of good first aid training.

Where You Can Learn These Skills?

First aid courses are available through commercial providers such as First Response Training or through community organisations such as the Red Cross and St John Ambulance. For more information on our courses click here to download our FREE brochure, or contact us on 0800 310 2300.

What Courses Are Available?

There are generally two main types of first aid courses: an Emergency Aid for Appointed Persons course covers the basics, but will also include guidance on critical interventions for conditions such as a heart attack and severe bleeding. It is not usually formally assessed.

The other is a First Aid at Work course (which usually lasts for 3 days, or 2 days for a re-qualification course) that covers the full range of first aid, and is formally assessed by Health and Safety Executive approved assessors. Certificates for this course are issued by the training organisation and are usually valid for three years.

What Common Areas Do First Aid Training Courses Cover?

Each type of first aid training will be different to cater for a variety of circumstances. For instance, parents of young children will benefit from baby and child courses to cover common ailments such as:

• emergency action planning
• choking
• child resuscitation
• control of bleeding
• breaks and sprains
• burns and scalds
• shock
• unconsciousness
• recognition of typical child medical emergencies
• recognition of serious conditions such as meningitis

Every workplace should have a designated first aider. Risks in the workplace will be different to those in the home and will require specialist occupational health and safety checks. Common areas to cover in training include:

• wounds and bleeds
• shock
• unconsciousness (including seizures)
• cardio-pulmonary resuscitation
• burns and scalds
• choking
• poisoning
• breaks and sprains
• recognition and treatment of major medical conditions
• accident reporting and record-keeping
• employer’s risk assessment

Schools and sports organisers are responsible for the care of the people under their care. Common areas to cover in training include:

• dislocation of joints
• concussion
• blocked airways (swallowed tongue etc)
• unconsciousness
• shock
• wounds and bleeds
• breaks and sprains
• cardio-pulmonary resuscitation
• accident reporting and record-keeping
• organiser’s risk assessment

Other courses on offer can include manual handling, the moving of people, and more advanced life support, such as defibrillation and administration of medical gases, such as oxygen and Entonox (an analgesic). Defibrillators are increasingly being acquired by community groups for volunteers to treat casualties in their immediate locality.

There are several types of first aid that require additional training. These are usually demanded by specialist activities:

• marine first aid:
  this is practised by lifeguards, professional seamen or in diver rescues
  
• hyperbaric first aid:
  this is practised by scuba professionals, to treat conditions such as decompression illness
• oxygen first aid:
  oxygen is given to casualties who suffer from conditions as a result of hypoxia (deprivation of oxygen)
• wilderness first aid:
  this is required where the arrival of an emergency response team or the evacuation of an injured person is delayed because of difficult terrain, weather, or available people or equipment

Overview of Conditions That Require Emergency Treatment:

• wounds and bleeds
• breaks and sprains
• choking: blockage of the airway can quickly result in death, due to lack of oxygen
• unconsciousness
• toothache
• insect and animal bites and stings
• dislocation of joints
• resuscitation
• concussion
• cramp: in muscles due to lactic acid build-up
• muscle sprains: may result in ligament damage
• wounds/bleeding: including incisions, lacerations, abrasions and gastrointestinal bleeding
• burns and scalds
• heat stroke which tends to occur during heavy exercise in high humidity, or with inadequate water
• childbirth
• anaphylactic shock usually as the result of an allergic reaction to peanuts or insect bites
• hyperglycaemia (diabetic coma)
• hypoglycaemia (insulin shock)
• hypothermia (exposure): when a casualty’s core temperature drops below 33.7°C
• poisoning: from an injection, inhalation, absorption, or ingestion
• seizures: from a malfunction in the electrical activity in the brain
• stroke: a temporary loss of blood supply to the brain
• cardiac arrest (heart attack): when there is inadequate blood flow to the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle

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