Questions tagged [first-aid]
First aid is typically the first care provided to a critically injured or ill patient. This can include controlling substantial bleeding, providing CPR or maintaining the airway of an unconscious patient.
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Why does distilled Water have First Aid instructions in case of contact with eyes or mouth?
On a bottle of distilled water, there is a paragraph called First Aid that reads:
In case of contact with eyes, rinse immediately with plenty of water and seek medical advice. If swallowed, rinse ...
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Removing an impaled object without a doctor
We all know (or at least, we should) that you should never remove an impaling object. Keep the object as still and stable as possible, and wait for the EMT/doctor/surgeon/whatever to do it.
But what ...
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How would remote postischemic conditioning be implemented as first aid?
Remote postischemic conditioning (or ischemic postconditioning) has been widely discussed for years. A review from 2014 described promising results from a test of the procedure with a blood pressure ...
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What is the proper self-aid during a heart attack?
I've heard that using cough during heart attacks as an improvised CPR is a complete myth. (Important note disproving self-CPR: CPR shall not be performed on conscious people.)
My question is what are ...
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Why can't you wash an amputated finger
While taking first-aid classes I realized that you cannot wash an amputated finger.
Does anyone know why is that? Will it induce more damages?
And why should we rinse a knocked-out tooth then?
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Complete torso/lung impalement, object still present - Do I have it right?
I hope this is the right Exchange. For background, I do have official military combat trauma training and official civilian first aid training but the particulars of Scenario 3 below have me wondering ...
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If a person has lockjaw, what disease is he or she suffering from? [closed]
Many times I have seen that a persons mouth is forced shut due to the locking of the jaw muscles. You need to apply a lot of force in order to open the mouth.
The cause is a disease that is very ...
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Can band-aids prevent or reduce acne scar formation?
Can band-aids prevent or reduce acne scar formation?
It's known that keeping wounds covered is actually better for healing. Here are the reasons:
It keeps our skin cells from drying out so that scabs ...
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Disinfectant spray in first aid kit for cycling and hiking?
On a recent bike trip I slipped on a gravel road and got abrasion around the knee. The wound was dirty with gravel dust and I instinctively cleaned it with water from my drinking bottle. Then I went ...
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Why do we continue compressions after the first AED shock?
I just took a CPR course and was instructed to perform 5 cycles of compressions after an AED shock (after which you wait for the AED to do another analysis). My question is: if the shock was ...
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Dealing with heat strokes
How can one prevent heat strokes in the summer due to high temperatures, and how can they be treated in first aid?
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How effective is a „wrong-way“ rescue blanket?
The silver side of a rescue blanket reflects light and infrared-light, thus preventing heat to escape from the wrapped patient. The golden sight absorbs light and heats up a bit. This should help the ...
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Evidence for oxygen renewal during hands-only CPR
I have heard on several occasions anecdotally (e.g. [1]) that hands-only CPR can replace the air in the lungs with new air (with more oxygen) due to the mechanical compression of the rib cage. This ...
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Put a finger in it? When is it appropriate to stop a bleed with your finger?
Can a arterial bleed be stopped by putting your finger/s in it? Like the one in your leg or a place where pressure can't be placed normally?
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Can a otherwise healthy person request a "do not resuscitate" order?
In NY State, in the USA, If an otherwise healthy person has a do not resuscitate order and has a heart attack and the ambulance comes, will they just let him die like that? Or is do not resuscitate ...
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What to do if someone breaks a bone?
I was wondering today about what someone should do immediately after either they or someone else had a fractured / broken bone.
What first aid / steps should be taken after this happens?
Is this ...
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How can CPR breathing be made less off-putting
There is a long on-going discussion about the breathing part of CPR being so off-putting that it frightens people away from doing CPR altogether. I was wondering what can be done to make it less off-...
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First aid for minor burns
My 30-year-old first-aid manual has the following instructions for treating minor burns:
Apply cold water or ice until the pain goes away, but not for less than five minutes or more than one hour.
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Fact or Hoax : Unconventional method of saving human life from stroke?
When someone gets a stroke their capillaries in the brainare gradually tearing. Usually, we bring the patient to the nearesthospital for immediate treatment.
On the other hand.
There's one ...
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Basic CPR practice without a dummy
I would like to practice basic CPR with my children, but do not want to invest in a CPR doll. I would be interested in suggestions as to how else one could do this. My idea was to practice the bits ...
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Is it indeed forbidden to clean a rabies wound with alcohol?
I've listen to a lecture of a Russian doctor who said that "it is forbidden to clean a rabies wound with alcholol" ("spirt") as a first treatment, he added that it is possible to disinfect the wound ...
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Mammals instinctively lick their wounds. There are benefits and risks. If your immune system is healthy, is it wise to lick your wounds?
Wikipedia writes:
Wound licking is an instinctive response in humans and many other animals to lick an injury. Dogs, cats, small rodents and primates all lick wounds.[1] Saliva contains tissue ...
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Can I save road accident victims with my bare hands?
I recently saw a video on a news channel where people were taking selfies and recording video of the victims of a car accident. The victim ended up dying because no one helped him.
It got me ...
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What should be done if a person is stabbed?
I have seen in almost all video-games and movies that when someone is stabbed by a sharp knife, the victim "takes out" the knife from his body. Does it help the victim in anyway? What should be the ...
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Does drinking water increase the risk of shock with an open wound?
First let me explain the scenario:
Someone received an open wound, lets assume from a cut so no blunt-forced trauma meaning no reason to suspect internal injuries. The wound is bad enough that serious ...
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What is proper capacity of adult non-rebreather masks?
I've looked at a few different brands of non-rebreather "adult" masks and all of them have reservoirs of about 1L. Even connected to 100% oxygen There is no way that's going to give an average adult ...
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Are There Reliable Sulfur-Based Blood-Clotting Products That Target Internal Bleeding
In WWII, the military used a sulfur-based powder to promote blood clotting, especially in traumatic internal injuries. The usefulness of such a product is obvious.
My question is whether there is ...
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Is Ibuprofen Safe To Use As A Catch-All First Aid Solution [closed]
I've heard it said that when in doubt use (or administer) Ibuprofen. The idea being that it's a safe, general-purpose medical tool. Assuming you follow the instructions on the bottle, is this a ...
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Can you cauterize a wound with gunpowder?
This question is based off a scene in The Revenant. In it, a character has a deep laceration across their throat which has been hastily stitched up. Upon drinking some water, they find that it ...
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Safely removing a foreign object from the human body without bleeding to death?
In movies you often see people advising others not to remove a foreign object (let's say a long stud) because its removal can cause a too high loss of blood. I can totally understand that and would ...
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Rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide for small wounds?
Ignoring physical pain, is it better to use rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to clean small wounds?
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Third-degree burn - Home treatment
In the case of a calf-long burn, second to third degree, what should you do to treat it by yourself, if there is nobody to help?
I was also wondering, since grafting is the usual medical practice for ...
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What is the correct first aid procedure for treating abdominal gunshot wounds?
There is surprisingly little information on this topic available, considering that gunshot wounds to the abdomen are as almost as common as to the chest. I had read somewhere that applying an Israeli ...
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Can I apply dettol & adhesive bandages on dog bites?
I always have pet dogs in my house. Day in & day out my dog bites me playfully; sometimes while cleaning his teeth, he closes his mouth suddenly to cut my finger. These happened for quite long ...
user1893
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Why not induce vomiting after accidental pills intake?
I've read that one should not induce vomiting after an overdose of pills. The only reasonable explanation I found is that
caustic substances may damage the esophagus (does not apply here)
the vomit ...
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My friend accidentally drank camphor water and also swallowed a piece of camphor [closed]
A friend of mine drank camphor water today he also swallowed a small
piece of camphor.
I searched for the side effects in google it is said that after taking directly by mouth in 5 to 90 minutes ...
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First aid for a rabies dog bite
When a person is bitten by a dog infected with rabies what are the first aid measures that must be taken? And within how much time should the person consult a doctor?
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What should I do if someone has a seizure in front of me?
What first-aid measures should be taken when someone is having a seizure?
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Blood pressure monitoring and breast cancer
Even though there is no mention of this in the french team first-aid guidelines, instructors, teams chiefs and doctors all instruct us rescuers not to monitor the blood pressure1 of a victim who has ...
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Decorticate or decerebrate response: may the underlying damages be reversible?
Decorticate response (GCS-4:112) or worse, decerebrate response (GCS-5:113), whatever the reason, are a sign of brain damage1.
According to the US National Institute of Health:
Decorticate posture: "...
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AED on infants: risks of using adult pads
Until a couple of years ago, in case of cardiac arrest, first-aid guidelines (in France at least) were instructing not to use an AED on infants (< 1 yo), even with pediatric pads or with an energy ...
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Rationales behind the order of applying the torso straps of a Kendrick Extrication Device
The French team first-aid guidelines define that the torso straps of a KED should be fastened and secured in the following order: middle, low, top.
(This order seems to be the same in other ...
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First aid measures for a snake bite
If a person is bitten by a snake, what first aid measures should be taken to prevent the venom from spreading all over the body until the proper medical help arrives?
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Pulmonary diseases and oxygen therapy
The team first aid guidelines in France say that for an adult victim, a saturation (SpO2) below 94 triggers the administration of 9L/min of oxygen using a non-rebreather mask. We first aid guys are ...
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How are ratios for one person CPR arrived at?
I have not had a CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) class in 10 or more years, but I used to take them all the time (like yearly). For one person CPR the ratio of compression to breaths was always ...
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Would butter on burns help or harm?
I have read (a long time ago, in an old book) that butter is good for burns. Is this true, and if so what is it that helps?
Is salted or unsalted butter better? And how should it be applied, and kept ...
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Legal issues when using first aid techniques that require certification in foreign countries [closed]
I am a certified first responder in France, but laws and protocol may differ from a country to another.
May I use the techniques I am certified for here in other countries without legal issues? I'm ...
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Is using urine to clean a wound better than non-sterile water?
I have heard that if you are in the wilderness and need a sterile fluid to rinse a wound, urine is an acceptable choice.
Sometime ago this topic came up while discussing emergency treatment. It was ...
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How safe are backboards?
I have heard a fair amount of talk recently about how safe the long spine boards frequently used by EMS personnel after falls and car accidents are. How many - if any - studies have been done on this?
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