General principles of first aid: necessary means and sequence of actions

There are situations in life when you need to urgently provide first aid to save a person. Some people in such cases fall into a stupor, others do not even know how to act. First of all, it is important to know the general principles of first aid and, if necessary, take timely measures to save the life and health of the victim.

General principles

If you are asked, give the general principles of first aid, then it is necessary to highlight without hesitation:

1. Literacy. Based on the “do no harm” principle. If a person does not know how to provide assistance, it is better not to touch the victim in order to avoid deterioration.
2. Timeliness. Assumes assistance at the right time. If several people were injured, then you need to try to help more people.
3. Ethics. It involves competent communication with the victim and the ambulance workers.
4. First aid. It implies correct and clear actions to save the life of the victim.

There are also some rules that should be followed during the provision of assistance:

1. Each action must be carried out calmly, thoughtfully and quickly.
2. First of all, it is necessary to stop the damaging effect (get out of water, a burning flame, etc.).
3. To assess the general well-being of the victim - this is especially important if the person is in an unconscious or shock state. During the examination, it is first determined whether the victim is alive or not, whether there is bleeding and how severe his injury is.
4. Then they think over the procedure and the way to provide first aid.
5. Find out what funds will be needed to provide assistance in each case.
6. After the first aid was provided, the victim is prepared, and then transported to a medical facility.
7. First aid is provided not only after the incident, but also on the road to the destination.

Signs of life

Among the general principles of first aid is an item on timely action. This is especially true if you have to help several victims at once. First you need to decide whether a person is alive.

Signs of life are determined by the following indicators:

1. A heartbeat that can be felt with your hand or with your ear against the left side of the chest.
2. By pulse on one of the arteries. Fingers are applied to the neck, wrist or femoral artery.
3. By the presence of breath. To do this, a mirror or a small piece of bandage is brought closer to the victim’s lips or nose, if the mirror fogs up and the tissue moves, the person is alive.
4. By the reaction of the pupil to the light. If you direct a ray of light at the eye, the pupil of a living person will narrow. In the daytime, the eye is covered with a palm and after a while the hand is sharply removed, the natural reaction is the narrowing of the pupil.

The greatest accuracy in diagnosis is determined by the absence of pulsation of large arterial vessels and wide pupils that do not respond to light. If there are signs of life, you must immediately begin resuscitation. In some cases, the absence of a pulse, reactions to light, palpitations and breathing can signal clinical death.

Signs of death

Indisputable signs of death include:

1. Drying and clouding of the cornea.
2. A symptom called a cat's eye. With moderate compression of the eyeball, the pupil changes and resembles the cat's eye.
3. Cold body with the formation of cadaveric spots. They look just like bruises. If the body lies on its back, they appear behind, if the corpse lies on its stomach, spots appear in front.
4. Rigor mortis, observed 2-4 hours after death.

When the brain is malfunctioning

General principles of first aid provide for the implementation of pre-medical measures. Among the main actions is to determine whether the human brain has been damaged.

Impaired functioning of the brain is observed in the following situations:

1. Direct injury: concussion, hemorrhage, bruising, poisoning with alcohol or drugs.
2. Impaired blood supply to the brain: fainting, large blood loss, heart failure.
3. Inadequate supply of oxygen to the body: asphyxiation, choking, squeezing of the chest.
4. Inability to saturate blood with oxygen: fever, impaired metabolism.
5. Heat or sunstroke, freezing.

The person providing assistance should determine as soon as possible whether the person is dead or lost consciousness. In the presence of the slightest signs of life, it is necessary to begin resuscitation.

How to take off clothes

In some cases of injury, first aid should be removed from the victim's clothing. To comply with the general principles of first aid, this must be done as carefully as possible.

Procedure:

1. In case of injuries to the hands, the clothes begin to be removed from a healthy or less injured limb, and then, supporting the sore hand and carefully pulling the sleeve, the clothes are also removed from it.
2. If the patient is in a supine position, and it is not possible to plant him, then the clothes are removed as follows: they lift the back of the clothes to the neck, pull over the head, pull the sleeve from a healthy hand, and then with the damaged one.
3. From the lower body, clothes are removed in the same sequence. In case of severe injury or bleeding, severe burns, pants are cut. It is important to remember that with large blood loss, wounds, fractures and other injuries, turning over or moving from the victim’s place for damaged limbs greatly increases pain, aggravates the condition until death. Therefore, during transportation, the injured limb is supported from below, along with other damaged parts of the body.

First aid for food poisoning

Any adult has encountered food poisoning at least once in a lifetime. Most often it is caused by the ingestion of low-quality food products and further bacterial infection.

Symptoms of food poisoning appear after a couple of hours after eating the missing product. Most often, this is vomiting, a feeling of nausea, diarrhea, pain in the stomach. In complex cases, symptoms occur repeatedly, causing weakness and headaches.

The general principles of first aid for victims of poisoning are timely and competent assistance.

It is necessary to perform such actions as quickly as possible in order to prevent intoxication of the body:

1. Do gastric lavage. The patient drinks at least a liter of a pale pink solution of manganese potassium, after which they induce an emetic reflex by pressing the tongue root with two fingers. The manipulation is repeated until only liquid without extraneous impurities escapes.
2. Then the patient is given an adsorbent, for example, "Activated Carbon" at the rate of 1 tablet per 10 kg of weight. Other effective drugs: Polyphepan, Smecta, Lignin, Enterosgel, Sorbex, etc.
3. In the absence of diarrhea, it is necessary to artificially cause emptying with an enema or by drinking a laxative.
4. The victim is laid in bed, a warm, plentiful drink is provided, and covered with a blanket. Drinking tea without sugar or slightly salted water is recommended.
5. You must call an ambulance.

Drug poisoning

In case of drug poisoning, it is necessary to remember at least 2 general principles for the provision of first aid:

1. First of all, they call an ambulance.
2. While the medical staff is on the way, it is necessary to find out what funds the victim took and in what quantity.

The symptomatology of drug poisoning, as a rule, manifests itself depending on the drug itself, which the victim took. The most pronounced signs include the following: inhibited reaction, unusual behavior, vomiting, confusion, lethargy, cramps and chills, blanching of the skin.

If the victim is not in a swoon, before the doctor arrives, the same measures are applied to him as with food poisoning. A person in an unconscious state is turned on his side, so that with a possible gag reflex he would not be choked by the outgoing masses. Moreover, they constantly monitor the breathing and pulse of the victim and, if necessary, begin resuscitation.

Poisoning by acids, alkalis, volatiles

Acids and alkalis of high concentration in addition to toxic effects on the body leave a burn at the site of exposure. Poisoning by ingestion of a substance through the mouth causes burns to the pharynx and oral cavity.

General principles of first aid for poisoning include measures:

1. Immediately flushing the stomach with water without adding any agents.
2. Then call vomiting.
3. Call a doctor.

The last event is carried out only after washing. After washing the stomach, the victim of acid poisoning is given milk or any vegetable oil.

Since poisoning with volatile substances occurs by inhalation, intoxication occurs almost instantly and quickly spreads throughout the body. This type of poisoning is considered one of the most dangerous.

The general principles of first aid for poisoning with such substances suggest measures:

1. Ensure that the victim has clean air. If a person is conscious, take him out, loosen his clothes and, if possible, rinse his mouth with soda solution: 1 tbsp. l into a glass of water.
2. If the victim is in an unconscious state, a roller from clothes is placed under his head for a better flow of air. With a weakening of the pulse and breathing, resuscitation is performed.

First Aid Injury

Most often, a fatal outcome occurs from blood loss, therefore, the general principles of first aid for injuries are based on literacy and timeliness of measures.

The main actions are aimed at stopping bleeding:

1. First call an ambulance.
2. A correctly applied dressing 3 times accelerates the healing process, therefore, when injured, it is important to protect the wound from infection and dirt. If possible, it should be treated with antiseptic agents and a bandage bandage, or at least tied with a scarf, bag or other improvised material.
3. Washing the wound with water only increases the infection.
4. If there are foreign objects on the surface of the wound (spines, splinters, dirt), they are carefully removed with tweezers or washed with a solution of peroxide. If the wound is serious, all measures should be performed by a doctor.
5. Ointments, creams or cotton wool should not be applied to the wound, this contributes to the development of infection. In the presence of fallen organs, a bandage is applied over them. It is important to wait until the doctor arrives or to deliver the victim to the hospital as soon as possible.

For injuries

General principles of first aid for first aid include the following:

1. Apply a bandage, apply exposure to cold and provide rest to the victim.
2. In case of spinal injury: carefully lay the victim face down and deliver to the hospital.
3. In case of dislocation: put a splint on the limb, thus immobilizing it.
4. For sprains: apply a tight bandage, apply cold and provide peace.
5. In case of a fracture: with the help of improvised materials, lay a splint and immobilize the site of bone fracture.
6. In case of joint injury: the victim is completely immobilized before the arrival of the medical team.
7. The wound is treated with hydrogen peroxide, iodine is applied around it.

It should be noted that each person needs to know the basics of first aid, because no one is safe from an accident.