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Essential Life-Saving Skills That Can Help You Tackle Medical Emergencies

Essential Life-Saving Skills That Can Help You Tackle Medical Emergencies

Care shouldn’t start in the emergency room- James Douglas. Emergencies wait for none. You never know when it is going to strike, turning your world upside down in a fraction of seconds. This is especially true for medical emergencies. What if someone has a heart attack in front of you, and it gets too late by the time you bring help? Feels horrifying, right? Although it is practically impossible to predict any potential medical emergency, it is your immediate response to make all the difference. Learning to deal with medical emergencies is especially important if you are in charge of taking care of kids and adults.  Believe it or not, thousands of Australians have to suffer unfortunate situations for not receiving immediate medical attention every year. Remember, how you respond to medical emergencies can mean the difference between life and death for someone. That’s why here we have curated a list of life-saving skills for you to learn to tackle medical emergencies. Scroll through the article to learn more about them. 

CPR

CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) definitely ranks on the top when it comes to life-saving skills. It is a well-known emergency technique that is often used to save people suffering from cardiac arrest. 

CPR

If not handled immediately or with care, cardiac arrest can also pave the way for brain damage or, worse of all, death.

Medical experts suggest performing hands-on CPR immediately after you find someone collapsing on the ground without any pulse. The technique involves manually compressing the patient’s chest. This will regulate the blood flow to the vital organs, even though the heart is unresponsive. Continue the process until the help arrives. 

First aid

Learning the dynamics of first aid can help adhere to the cuts and scrapes. If left untreated, minor wounds can lead to the formation of clots. Not to mention, it can also lead to infection. 

Thus, it is important that you get an in-depth knowledge about first aid and learn how to treat wounds the right way. For instance, your immediate response towards bleeding should be to apply pressure on the affected area and use a sterile cloth to slow it down. 

Learning about First Aid.

Also, if you recognize the telltale signs of arterial bleeding, make sure you do not remove the pressure until after the help arrives. Ignoring the signs of arterial bleeding can elevate the chances of uncontrollable bleeding. In the worst-case scenario, a patient with unattended arterial bleeding can die within minutes. 

To learn more about it and the best ways to tackle such emergencies, you can consider taking a complete first aid course. The training will help you brush up on your life-saving skills. This, in turn, will help you recognize medical emergencies and prepare you to provide effective first aid treatment. 

For this, all you need to do is find the available first aid courses in your area. You can Google terms like First aid training perth and enroll yourself to start the learning process. Such courses will also help you deal with other casualties such as fractures, sprains, and strains. 

The Heimlich maneuver

Many people tend to confuse the Heimlich maneuver with CPR. If you are one of them, then you need to know that there’s a huge difference between the two.

The Heimlich maneuver offers immediate help if someone is choking on a foreign object. 

Here are the steps you need to take while performing the Heimlich maneuver. 

  • Stand behind and wrap the patient in your arms. 
  • Then, you would need to place a fist between their rib cage and belly button. 
  • Place your hand over your fist and deliver the quick thrust upward. 

Keep repeating the process until the foreign object is dislodged from the patient’s throat or windpipe.  The only thing you need to keep in mind with this technique is to make sure you use it only for adults. Flights and restaurants are some of the potential areas where you might have to use this technique. Do it right, and you can actually save someone’s life. 

Shock treatment

A person can experience shock after a serious blood loss/fluids, infection, allergic reaction, accident, or illness. The patient might feel fainting, dizzy, and disoriented in such a situation. In many cases, they may even start looking pale. This is typical because, after experiencing a shock, the brain is not able to get enough blood supply. 

Shock Treatment

In such a situation, make sure you lie the victim on their back, keeping their feet elevated. Use a blanket to keep the patient warm. Also, refrain from letting the person drink anything. It might result in choking. 

And if the patient starts throwing up or vomiting blood, try to move the patient to the side. Keep rubbing the patient’s hands and feet until the help arrives.  

Burn treatment

Although severe burns should be treated by experienced medical professionals, taking certain steps beforehand can help avoid infection. 

In case of burns:

  • Make sure you run the wound under cool tap water for at least 10 to 20 minutes. You need to skip the step for severe burns.
  • Use a moist compress to cool the skin.
  • Refrain from applying ice, butter, or anything else directly to the wound. 
Burn treatment

Use a mild soap and tap water to clean the patient’s skin gently. Do not forget to remove the clothing and jewelry before treating such wounds. 

Once the wound has completely cooled, apply an aloe vera lotion or moisturizer on the affected area. It will help in preventing dryness and offer relief. 

Use a sterile gauze bandage to cover the wound. It will keep the air from affecting the burned skin. Also, avoid putting pressure on the affected area. 

To sum it all up, 

Hopefully, you don’t get a chance to put any of the life-saving tips into play. But if you have to, you know exactly what to do and how to do it. 

The way you tackle medical emergencies can avoid any unfortunate situations. Life-Saving – Do it right, and the patient would definitely thank their stars for having you around.