The Underrated First Aid Skills Test

The reasoning behind this is simple, and not rooted in selfishness or cowardice: It's that you can't help anyone if you're injured yourself (at least, not very effectively). "First do no harm" is the beginning of the Hippocratic Oath, and good advice as well.

Perhaps you own a first-aid kit, or more than one. It's a good idea to have one for your home, one at your workplace (hopefully your employer has this covered already) and one for your car, if you drive.

Your first-aid kit doesn't have to be waterproof, (though if it's kept on a boat, this is a good idea). But you should check it periodically to make sure that the medications haven't expired, that the bandages are still intact inside their sealed overwrap, and so on.

The Red Cross is an international group perhaps best known for maintaining blood banks and organizing volunteer blood donation, but it has several other functions. Need to Know Dept: In the Muslim world, the Red Cross is called the Red Crescent.

It's more common in first aid to hear about a patient's "pulse" than their "heartbeat." This is because the former word implies the rate at which the patient's heart is beating, measured in beats per minute. "Heartbeat" is a simpler term referring to the simple fact that the patient's heart is, in fact, beating.

An important part of emergency medicine is dealing with the airway. While there's little a first-aid provider in the field can do to affect the function of the lungs, the upper parts are far more accessible.

"First responder" is the catch-all term here. Often they are some kind of public-safety worker, like an EMT. But there's also such a thing as a "civilian first responder." If you've learned about first aid, and provide help at an emergency scene, then this describes you.

This is the word you'll most often hear about a blockage, or about choking. One of most important practices in first aid is clearing an obstruction of the airway.

If a patient is non-responsive, you should check that their airway isn't blocked, then that they are breathing and that their heart is beating. These three things are critical to saving a life. Most other medical issues can wait. (Sidebar: although "H" for "heartbeat" would make more sense, using "circulation" creates the useful "ABC" mnemonic).

"Resuscitation" is a word generally meaning "revival"; nowadays, it's almost exclusively used in medicine. The "cardio" and "pulmonary" parts of this portmanteau word refer to the heart and the lungs, respectively.

There are other circumstances in which you might palpate for signs of a broken bone or internal injury. However, once you've established that the patient doesn't have a pulse, checking for those injuries is a secondary concern.

You might not think of bleeding as a circulatory issue, but when a person loses a lot of blood, there just isn't enough to go around in the rest of the circulatory system, blood pressure drops and vital organs probably aren't getting the oxygen they need. So controlling bleeding is nearly as important as getting the heart restarted.

The problem here is that when you flood your body with oxygen, carbon dioxide levels fall. It's actually carbon dioxide to which oxygen attaches on red blood cells, in order to be carried to tissues throughout the body, so you can see the problem! For ideal oxygenation of your brain and other tissues, try to breathe normally — not abnormally deep nor rapidly.

Your friend needs to get to a hospital, and fast! These are classic signs of stroke, which if caught within about an hour, is well-treated ... but if not, can have serious long-term effects.

This is for an adult, mind you ... children breathe a bit faster, because their metabolism is faster in general. Beyond 24 breaths per minute, in an adult, is getting into the range we might consider hyperventilation.

Ankles are common places for sprains, and can be confused with the milder "twisted ankle." The rule of thumb is if you can walk on it, it's just a twisted ankle; if you can't put weight on it, it's a sprain.

We live in amazing times -- a "civilian" can restart a heart using a machine! With adequate advance training, of course. Certain people who work with the public get AED (automatic external defibrillation) training, like security personnel at airports and stadiums.

There are different kinds of seizure; some are quite subtle. However, even in a dramatic seizure, it's a myth that you need to stick something in the person's mouth to prevent them from swallowing their tongue. That only happens in a small fraction of seizures.

While it's prudent not to move someone with a suspected spinal injury, saving their life comes first! A detailed first-aid guide will have guidelines for moving the patient under those conditions: often it involves two people and the "logrolling" technique.

This is typical for an adult at rest. But don't forget, emergency scenes are frightening and stimulating, so higher heart rates are a possibility. We wouldn't assume someone has a medical issue if they are awake and aware during an emergency and their heart rate is at, say, 115. In fact, an abnormally low pulse would probably be a worse sign.

"Mouth-to-mouth" refers, obviously, to how the rescue breathing takes places, or the positioning of the rescuer to the patient. Intubation is another way that EMTs help patients start breathing again, but this requires equipment and training that average folks don't have.

Because the nose and mouth collaborate in the breathing process, it's necessary to pinch the nostrils shut to keep the air you're supplying from simply flowing out through the nose. With the nostrils shut, most of your breath will make it into a patient's lungs.

Why is this important in first aid? Because cervical spine injuries can result in the most severe form of paralysis; that is, the higher the injury, the greater the area of the body that is paralyzed. That's why patients are so often immobilized in a cervical collar before transport to a hospital, and why people providing first aid should be very aware of the possibility of cervical spine injury.

This is one of the first life-saving techniques that many of us learned. It involves approaching a choking person from behind, knotting your hands under the ribcage, and making a forceful upward compression to dislodge the food. Fun fact: Henry Heimlich, who pioneered the technique, used it at age 96 to save the life of a fellow resident at his nursing home. He was a rock star!

Incredibly, the Heimlich maneuver can be done by a person who begins choking on their food while eating alone. (At least, most choking involves food. If you're choking on a TV remote, psychiatric intervention might be needed). The technique involves a self-administered abdominal thrust, or for even more power, flinging oneself onto the upper edge of a chair.

Hypoxia isn't painful or unpleasant at first: It manifests as giddiness and lightheadedness. However, if not corrected, it can lead to loss of consciousness and death. Or tissue damage, if corrected, but not in a timely fashion.

Many medical issues change a person's awareness of their surroundings and their ability to communicate. Additions to the three items above are shock, head trauma, severe depression, very low blood sugar ... and the list goes on.

Of course they're not going to be fine on their own — they're not breathing! However, they don't need chest compressions, despite the weak pulse. Compressions are only for when the heart has stopped.

Why on the side? Because this keeps the tongue out of the throat and is the best way to clear any regurgitated stomach contents. This position is only for a patient who shows no sign of spinal injury and is out of immediate danger (i.e., where the "ABCs" are concerned).

Hypothermia is cold beyond what the body can correct through thermoregulation. Weird Science Dept: An unusual side effect is "paradoxical undressing." Sometimes, in the throes of hypothermia, the hypothalamus creates a burst of body heat to compensate. The person feels hot, and strips off their clothes despite being outside in the snow (usually there's a bit of altered thinking going on by this point). Needless to say, this can muddle investigations into the death.

A "TIA" can be fairly mild; some patients don't even realize they've just had one. From a first-aid standpoint, the key is to be able to recognize one, in order to refer a patient to a doctor for follow-up. Signs include vision problems, slurred speech and confusion.

Allergies are often an inconvenience, not a threat to life itself. But allergies causing anaphylactic shock — swelling of tissues including the airway — are an exception. If someone in the late stages of anaphylaxis cannot help himself, look for his auto-injector, often called an "Epi-Pen" (a trade name).

A "splint" is a medical device created specifically for this purpose. However, in the field, you might end up splinting someone's limb to a board or a ski ... even, in the case of a leg, to the uninjured leg.

A field tracheotomy means making a hole in someone's throat and inserting an improvised breathing tube, like a straw or the ink tube of a pen, beneath an obstruction and into the airway. Experts say that it almost never works when done by an untrained person in the field, and furthermore, the risk of hitting an artery is great. It's recommended to try to clear the obstruction by any other means.

Just a little '70s humor for you! Staying (excuse us, "stayin' ") alive is the point of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. If you chose "Night Fever," sorry, but CPR is of no use for an elevated body temperature.