First aid refers to the immediate medical assistance that is provided to any person who has experienced any form of injury or illness. Medical industry experts have observed that a lot of the first aid course training made available today is through private organisations.
It can be the most important form of training that you will ever do in the course of your life. This type of training empowers you to act swiftly and with confidence in any emergency or life-threatening situation.
So, if you’re interested in taking a first aid course, you ought to know exactly what you are going to experience through that training. This short guide will give you a quick summary and a bird’s eye view of the most common training courses being offered today.
Preparation for Training
The type of first aid course depends on what is being offered by the provider. Some may take only a few hours, while others will require you to spend an entire day on site. It doesn’t matter whether you’re doing the training online or live face to face. You should prepare at least an hour or two of your time for this type of training.
You don’t need to know CPR beforehand, make a tourniquet, support carries, and others. Just come to the training with an open mind and allow new ideas and training approaches to be presented to you.
Clothing and Realistic Scenarios
You should also put on comfortable clothing. Anything loose fitting will be great. You should also be aware that certain sensitive materials may be shown or depicted during training. These visuals may upset you or cause you emotional distress.
However, this is the best way to prepare for real-life emergencies. The more real it gets, the better prepared you become.
What Will You Be Taught
One of the core things you will be taught is doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). You will also be taught a lot of other skills in any first aid course. You will be taught at least the following:
- How to identify if someone is experiencing a cardiac arrest
- High-performance CPR
- The links in the chain of survival
- Standard precautions on personal safety
- How to assess an unresponsive person
- The recovery position
- Using an AED on a child, infant, and adult
- How to recognise that someone is choking
- How to treat a choking adult, infant, or child
- Treatment for breaks and dislocations
Many other topics can be taught to you during a first aid course. You should also look into getting proper certifications after you have been through training. However, do take note that there will be exams that you must pass before you can be fully certified as a first aid provider.
Who Will Provide Training
First aid trainers can come from a variety of backgrounds. Some of them are in the medical field, some are first responders (those who run to the emergency not away from it), and others are medics from the armed forces.
The trainer facilitating the course should have extensive experience in providing first aid and can help you gain insights for different situations and emergencies. They are also better at assessing whether you are delivering proper care or not.
Conclusion
You ought to know what is involved in first aid training. You can try a free course, but you shouldn’t stop there. Complete full certification training to completely equip you to handle real-life emergencies.
