What is First Aid? Did You Know These Things?

Table of Contents

What is First Aid?

First aid, by its name itself, is the first/immediate/primary assistance and care given to the injured/ill person.
First aid includes initial intervention/support to the injured person before he/she receives professional medical treatment.
First aid is a provision of instantaneous carefulness given to an individual if he/she is suffering from pain, injury, illness, shock, or trauma while waiting for complete medical action is made accessible.
The concept of first aid was developed first time in 1858 in Germany during the war.

Full form of First Aid:

Although, in most of the cases, full forms are not commonly used for First Aid. However, the commonly found abbreviation of first aid is:

F: First

I: Investigation

R: Relief

S: Symptom

T: Treatment

A: Arrangement

I: Immediately

D: Disposal

Aims of First Aid:

The aim of first aid is commonly remembered as “3 Ps”:
- Prevent further injury
- Preserve life
- Promote recovery

These three themes also reflects all the actions that needs to be carried out by a first aider. Apart from these 3P’s, the other 2P’s of first aid are:

Make the patient relax
Protect the unconsciousness of the patient

Primary Things To Be Noted While Giving First Aid:

A- Airway
B- Breathing
C- Circulation (stop bleeding)
D- Disability
E- Exposure environment (the condition/environment where patient is found)

Qualities of an Excellent First Aider:

Should have a helping attitude
Should be polite and gentle
Should have the quality of getting/asking help from others, in any necessary cases
Must be alert that first aider is not a doctor
Should be a good observer (site of injury, talk to the patient, know the level of consciousness of the patient)
Should be able to manage the local resources efficiently at the site of injury
Should be prompt and quick
Should be calm in nature and able to control emotions

Responsibilities of a First Aider:

He/she should not leave the patient alone.
He/she should be able to make the patient relax enough. This will help the patient to not lose his/her consciousness.
First attention should be given to the mute patient
He/she should never argue with the patient or patient party.
He/she should manage the incident and ensure continuing safety of the patient/injured safety.
While sending patient to the hospital, he/she (first aider) must send detail report to the hospital i.e. site of injury, place of accident, first aid measures taken etc.