Essential life saving skills.

[TeeDee]

Essential life saving skills syllabus. .

What skills or knowledge would you say are the most important life saving skills - either your own life or someone elses should be taught on a very limited syllabus list of teaching ?

So these skills - should be the absolute essential , rather than learning many variations of a theme.
As an example of what I mean. Knowing how to tie a bowline around yourself maybe the one knot you/we should all know without it being having to explained or shown to us in a stressful scenario -- all the other knots are great to learn , but the Bowline is one of the most prime for keeping life alive.

Applying the same thing to First Aid.
I would say ( happy for someone to add / debate or suggest something different ) that for the most important aspects of life saving skills learning how to apply CPR , Abdominal thrust ( Heimlich ) and applying pressure to big bleed points.
These over less important 'big ticket' skills.

So not just limited to Knots and First Aid , what else would make the list to make sure people know how to apply/demonstrate before they do anything else? This could be as applicable to a remote expedition or a general physical preparedness type teaching module.

 

[Broch]

Swimming and fast water survival techniques. I urge anyone that does water sport or enters water to attend a fast water rescue course - fun and very valuable.

 

[The Frightful]

You are bang on, personally i think learning to swim /water survival and basic first aid should be mandatory on all schools weekly curriculums from year 1 until you leave education. Within a generation we would have an army of first responders that would save many lives, possibly, including their own. I have been on many first aid courses and virtually every one has new updated methods which i don't really understand how the basics can change over a relatively short period of time

 

[Wildgoose]

First aid changes through collective experience, following a major incident senior medics look at why some people survived and some did not I.e were the survivors placed on their fronts/backs/sides. Did this make a noticeable difference?

Fundamentally the human body hasn’t changed for a while though, so stop the bleeding and keep them breathing, everything else can be sorted when help arrives.

First aid aside, I think knowing how water/fire/weather behaves and reading the signs is an essential skill.

 

[TeeDee]

You are bang on, personally i think learning to swim /water survival and basic first aid should be mandatory on all schools weekly curriculums from year 1 until you leave education. Within a generation we would have an army of first responders that would save many lives, possibly, including their own. I have been on many first aid courses and virtually every one has new updated methods which i don't really understand how the basics can change over a relatively short period of time

I'm not disagreeing with you - But I'm not leaving this to just say school children / Teenagers should get taught this stuff.

I'm just thinking if you had an opportunity to help craft part of an adult syllabus ( not conventionally educational ) what else would get included?

I find it odd we can drive cars but not complete a basic level of first aid course to go along with that and more often or not most of us will have to at some point in our life deal with a RTA.

 

[RonW]

Personally I think we should train the mindset first, expand awareness.
Starting with situational awareness for the young ones and how to raise the alarm/call for aid. First aid is not within their grasp yet. Might be rather traumatising too.
From ages 12 and throughout the teens one could gradually increase skill- and pressurelevel. Those familiar with first aid can probably attest to the levels of stress that occur, when learning and applying first aid.
At age 18 those capable of handling it, should know first aid including CPR.
Other then that 'd say it is a parent's respocibility to educate their offspring in safety in and around the house; what to do in case of fire, intrusion or other incidents. And that can be expanded to fit the needs and wishes of the family.

 

[Chris]

1. Recognising that you are stressed/full of adrenaline and being able to hold off making rash decisions. I think things like martial arts and boxing are good for this, as you find yourself being punched in the nose the first few times and your judgement is shot. Becoming resilient to this, and knowing when you are at risk of acting without thinking is something that can save your life in lots of situations. Whether it's getting away from a tricky situation in a city, you're hypothermic, you're panicking in a surivival situation, or you're injured or poorly and need to calm yourself down, this can be applied in lots of places.

2. Definitely agree with first aid (traumatic bleeds, CPR and choking especially)

3. Fully agree with swimming

 

[Broch]

I did think of self-defence or a martial art - but then I remembered my master instructing us that the very best self defence was being able to run fast

 

[Wayland]

There is a post somewhere here by Stew about making a cup of tea.

I was never a tea drinker but the point I got from his post was to take a little time to think things through.

How many people get themselves into trouble by rushing into situations I wonder?

 

[saxonaxe]

RonW​

" Personally I think we should train the mindset first, expand awareness."

A long time ago, at their request, I spoke to various organisations about personal security. Women's organisations such as WRVS (Now RVS) featured very frequently as well as Adult Education Centres and occasionally commercial concerns like Insurance Companies.

Ron W's comment above was always my starting point. For what it's worth, and it isn't my invention but purely something that might be of interest, there is a simple illustration of how awareness of danger can be thought of.
It's the personal Traffic Light system.
At birth and for a few hours afterwards one's traffic lights are at red, quickly going amber and then green once tucked up with Mum.
The light generally stays green in babyhood with watchful parents present, until crawling time comes around then goes to amber then red as opening cupboard doors, falling downstairs, swallowing small objects becomes flavour of the day.

Amber through childhood, occasionally red as independence grows along with bike riding, playing " Dare you" and coming home from school alone etc"
Teenage years, motorbikes, learner driving, nights out with the boys in first car, group foreign holidays and the like are all red light times without a doubt..But..not recognised by those involved..or quite often the parents... See Ron W's comment above.

Generally the amber light applies once settled, mortgage, 9-5 etc. Then the light starts to go red again. People my age, traffic aware as a pedestrian? Cash machine zones, and a generally failing awareness overall.
All the first aid, basic survival lessons and the physical aspects are of course very important, and the underlying reason why they are important, should anyone ask, the answer could be, " because your personal Traffic Light indicates that you should learn these things "

 

[RonW]

There is a post somewhere here by Stew about making a cup of tea.

I was never a tea drinker but the point I got from his post was to take a little time to think things through.

How many people get themselves into trouble by rushing into situations I wonder?

I learned to use the S.T.O.P.-acronym...
Stop
Think
Observe
Plan
... and then act.

 

[TeeDee]

There is a post somewhere here by Stew about making a cup of tea.

I was never a tea drinker but the point I got from his post was to take a little time to think things through.

How many people get themselves into trouble by rushing into situations I wonder?

I can agree with the conceptual sentiment but how could one teach that in advance to people?

Going back to the bowline example - I could show a group me tying the bowline ten times - then give them each a rope and get them to perform in in slow time with support until they get it right. Then again without support and then once more most likely tying it with a single hand to progress to tying it with one arm whilst in the dark.

After these say, 60 repetitions of various intensity I'd hope it would become somewhat muscle memory.
If they were ever in a position where they needed to tie a bowline ( Fantasy or not ) they would I hope be at least ingrained in skill set to do so.


But how would one teach or condition people to pause and think things through in stressful situation?

 

[saxonaxe]

But how would one teach or condition people to pause and think things through in stressful situation?

Because every individual has a different level of acceptance, personal mental control or whatever you wish to call it, I would say it's not possible. But by teaching awareness it is possible to cushion or lessen the shock that leads to panic under stress.

A young lady totally oblivious enters a darkened multi story car park at night on the way to her car. A drunk jumps out on her and she panics and runs towards an exit...That exit is locked.. a sign to that effect is displayed by the car park entrance ( Exit B out of order)

Or a young lady aware that she is entering a darkened area of which she is aware may, without being paranoid, pose a threat, looks about her and notes that exit B is locked and that the nearest open exit is to her right, exit C. She runs to exit C when threatened.

She is frightened but not frozen with fear, she was aware and alert and was able to react.
The trick is to find a balance of teaching people to be aware of their surroundings and possible threats, problems or situations, without becoming some sort of paranoid prepper expecting a Zombie attack every time they go shopping.
When I was teaching people it was so much easier..the mobile phones were the size of house bricks and didn't have a screen to gaze dumbly at all day...

 

[haptalaon]

There is a post somewhere here by Stew about making a cup of tea.

I was never a tea drinker but the point I got from his post was to take a little time to think things through.

How many people get themselves into trouble by rushing into situations I wonder?

It's a great post, I used it just the other week.

 

[Broch]

Training doesn't guarantee safety, it just improves the odds. Taking the fast water training example, we are told to not panic about taking a breath when we first enter cold water - to resist that temptation to gulp for air due to the cold; but that is easier said than done unless you have not only learnt it but practiced it as well.

 

[Kadushu]

Learning to stay out of trouble in the first place is a good step. Driving defensively, avoiding rough parts of town, staying in when there's a red weather warning...

Sure you might feel like a boring old git but at least you'll still be breathing.

 

[Stew]

There is a post somewhere here by Stew about making a cup of tea.

I was never a tea drinker but the point I got from his post was to take a little time to think things through.

How many people get themselves into trouble by rushing into situations I wonder?

Just to point out it was by Stuart (if I remember correctly) not me!

It’s a good plan though.

 

[TeeDee]

Whilst I am enjoying the mental aspect contributions , Can I please try to veer this more back to more specific task list?

CPR
Recovery Position
Abdominal Thrust
Big Bleeds
Drown proofing/Fast water training
Tying a Bowline
Fire Triangle Understanding / How to light a fire



Anymore for anymore.

 

[Wildgoose]

Triage - scene management.

A lot of traditional first aid training was one first aider and one casualty, the ability to triage a car full of people quickly really makes a difference

 

[TLM]

"If in trouble or doubt run around in circles scream and shout", read that somewhere. It works every now and then.

We have a society (Finland) where every 15th man has been trained as squad leader every 40th as platoon leader. Means that they have some kind of training in making decisions. Surprisingly that helps. Some women have gone trough armed forces training too.

In peace time conditions I guess first aid of any kind is first. That is probably not for yourself but for unexpected accidents.

How to keep yourself warm, we have 6 months when severe hypothermia is a real possibility. By association that kind of includes how to keep somebody else warm too, though that in some cases is kind of difficult. (Includes different skills for creating the right conditions.)

After that comes various everyday survival skills like changing a tire in the middle of nowhere, repairing and filling it, having some basic medication with you, etc. ...

After the easy ones one should have an 112 app with location to use to call help.

And if Putin hits the fan one should know how to pull the trigger when under lawful orders ...