1st aid kits

[Boathook]

I mentioned on my last refresher course that I gained my first, first aid certificate at the tender age of 12 some 50 years ago. Mother was a nurse and the course was run by the local GP, who spent time in the A&E department at the Belford Hospital in Fort William.

Oddly, things go in and out of fashion. Start CPR by striking the chest, don't strike the chest, we are now striking the chest again.

Torniquets have been mentioned above - same with them do then don't now use with care.

I did the rya first aid course earlier this year and no mention was made about striking the chest. Played around with training defibrulators. The price is dropping all the time. Maybe the next safety item to have a boat ?
Tourniquets are a last resort to save a life as the limb may be lost but a life saved hopefully.

 

[William_H]

I have been surprised at how First Aid courses seem to be designed to give a one size fits all approach. I hear on the news " CPR was applied" in cases where clearly the patient has been injured such as to stop breathing in fact living. CPR is very appropriate for cases of drowning, electrocution gassing or perhaps hyerthermia but not likely to do much good for serious accident victims. Yet training seems to want to make simple rules denying the student common sense.
Yes I think there is a move towards omitting mouth to mouth resuscitation on the basis that heart compressions will move air iomn and out of lungs. Yet I reckon in some cases a good blow first might help clear lungs. I just hope to be able to avoid the need. ol'will

 

[requiem]

Tourniquets are a last resort to save a life as the limb may be lost but a life saved hopefully.

Plenty of battlefield experience helped dispel the "you'll lose the limb" myth. At least, if you can get to care in a reasonable amount of time you're likely to keep the limb. That might be harder out at sea, but you've got at least 2 hours before toxic metabolites start to build up, and probably 6 hours before the limb is really at risk.

I don't know if Sandy is referring to a precordial thump or just whether to start with compressions vs breaths. The shifts around number of compressions are based on recognition that it takes time for compressions to build up "prime the pump" to get blood moving, and each time you stop to give breaths you have to build it up again. The focus of current guidelines is to keep the blood moving, even if not fully oxygenated.

Guidelines have also changed to reflect the target audience. Instructions to first check for a pulse were removed from lay first aid courses in recognition that it was wasting time on a check that most people couldn't effectively do in the first place. "Hands only" was intended to encourage people to provide care even when they weren't comfortable giving breaths.

 

[DreadShips]

I've been told that the reintroduction of tourniquet techniques was a response to some of the terrorist outrages of the 2000s - it was felt that the chances of saving lives with it now outweighed the damage from people applying it inappropriately or badly.

It's not just damage to limbs either. One problem was that people saw it as "cleaner" than putting pressure on a wound, applied an improvised tourniquet weakly, and patients bled out.