how many of us are first aid trained?

[Keith_Beef]

Been learning first aid since my cub days....

My first aid training was Cubs and Scouts, too. Now that I've got two small kids, I know I should go and do some proper training.

Cuts, fainting and sickness are my main conquests as an aider....

Cuts, grazes, knocks to the head are my most frequent injuries. I ought to get a tetanus jab, too, I suppose. I get cuts on my hands, and splinters and thorns, from DIY and what have you.

Most of the time, I let a small cut bleed for a little while to wash out anything that's in ther, then disinfect with 90º alcohol and fix the edges together to let the cut heal.

I don't consider myself particularly tall, at 5'11.1/2", but living in a world designed by and for short people, I get a lot of bangs to the head, with cuts, from doorways and badly thought out kitchens...

Fainting, I think, is a dangerous thing. Especially the bit where the victim's head hits the pavement.

Keith.

 

[bambodoggy]

I ought to get a tetanus jab, too, I suppose. I get cuts on my hands, and splinters and thorns, from DIY and what have you.Keith.

Hey Keith, I don't know if you realised but if you've had 5 or more tetanus jabs in your life then you don't need anymore. I worked with service dogs a while ago and was often nipped and used to tootle down to my doctors to get a jab thinking I needed one each time.... On what was (I guess) my 6th or 7th time the doctor popped his head out (usually the nurse does the injection) and mentioned that I didn't need it and not to bother coming back again (in a polite way!lol).

So....no more jabs for me! ):

 

[Keith_Beef]

Hey Keith, I don't know if you realised but if you've had 5 or more tetanus jabs in your life then you don't need anymore. I worked with service dogs a while ago and was often nipped and used to tootle down to my doctors to get a jab thinking I needed one each time.... On what was (I guess) my 6th or 7th time the doctor popped his head out (usually the nurse does the injection) and mentioned that I didn't need it and not to bother coming back again (in a polite way!lol).

So....no more jabs for me! ):

Up to leaving school, at sixteen, I was told that I had to have a booster every five or ten years (don't remember which)... I think I may have had another one in 1993 (before going to Russia, I have jabs for Hep A, Hep B, Diphtheria, maybe a couple of others... so I may have had a Tetanus jab, too).

No way have I been through ten Tetanus boosters, though! I'm not that old!


Keith.

 

[Andy]

How many peopole that have done the FAW (first aid at work) did any practice at removing crash helmets?

This was a major issue for me as it was included in loads of courses but never given much thought (other then you don't do it very often). It was something that I trained quite a few people to do in my time (when I tought FAW)
It's going to be interesting in the new division here in nottingham

 

[bambodoggy]

No way have I been through ten Tetanus boosters, though! I'm not that old!Keith.

:rolmao: Sorry buddy....didn't mean to imply you were an oldtimer! lol I'm only 30 myself.... I just seem to have had loads of tetanus jabs!

Adi has started a new thread to see if anyone knows for sure but as I say after about 5 or 6 as far as I have been told....you don't need anymore!

 

[bambodoggy]

How many peopole that have done the FAW (first aid at work) did any practice at removing crash helmets?

This was a major issue for me as it was included in loads of courses but never given much thought (other then you don't do it very often). It was something that I trained quite a few people to do in my time (when I tought FAW)
It's going to be interesting in the new division here in nottingham

Anyone removing or trying to remove my helmet after a crash had better be a minimum of paramedic or they can expect a whole heap of trouble from me!

I have a black full face helmet (like the old bill have so that the whole front lifts up out of the way if you need to get in for mouth to mouth) there is NO reason why anyone should be removing helmets other than this. I have a large yellow sign on both the front and rear of the lid ordering (not asking - ordering) people NOT to take it off....period!

I know some people have been trained in the correct way to do this, I just don't care....as I say unless you're a paramedic, Nurse or Doctor LEAVE MY LID ON!
You may get it off correctly and manage not to break my neck but if it's all that's holding my brain in and I'm at the side of the road you'd better be good with stopping the goo oozing out!!!! :yikes:

 

[JimH]

Anyone removing or trying to remove my helmet after a crash had better be a minimum of paramedic or they can expect a whole heap of trouble from me!

I have a black full face helmet (like the old bill have so that the whole front lifts up out of the way if you need to get in for mouth to mouth) there is NO reason why anyone should be removing helmets other than this. I have a large yellow sign on both the front and rear of the lid ordering (not asking - ordering) people NOT to take it off....period!

Very wise. Especially as most flip-fronts *won't* come off without opening first - doesn't bear thinking about.

I wear an open-face except on the track (not allowed ) which saves me that, but subjects me to alarming suggestions as to what might happen to my face in a crash.

Sorry, gone off topic already...

Jim.

 

[Andy]

Flip up full face lids are great when your treating them

They don't use them at speedway though (or didn't when I was in St Johns)

 

[shinobi]

One of the reasons removing helmets is not taught on a FAW course is the fact that the course is called "First Aid at Work." Very few peoples work includes motorbike helmets so it isn't included in the criteria of that course.

As to the actual removal, we were taught only to remove it if the person has stopped breathing. In that situation the person is technically dead anyway, so you can't make them any worse :shock: But you had better be sure that they have stopped breathing first.

Cheers,

Martin

 

[bambodoggy]

Yep....Shinobi is right....stopping breathing is the ONLY reason to remove a lid.....

It was actually after being on my last FAW course where the subject came up that I went out and bought my fullface helmet, the thought of mouth to mouth in a lid hadn't occured to me before that although I knew you shouldn't take lids off.

Andy...I guess they wear whatever's best for racing....I'd still have to be 100% they weren't breathing before I...
In fact no....I just wouldn't....sorry Mate, I'd leave it for the experts :shock:
If you're an expert then great but I wouldn't teach it to anybody if it was me running the class....(I used to be a trainer/assess for the HSE 4day FA course - lapsed now....just a normal qualified bod)....I think it's too easy to leave pupils with the idea they can cope with anything ans they end up diving into situations that they really should leave well alone.

 

[Andy]

Yep....Shinobi is right....stopping breathing is the ONLY reason to remove a lid.....

agreed (We've only taken one off once when we waited 40mins for the ambulance)

I wouldn't teach it to anybody if it was me running the class

agreed. This is an issue I have with most of the shorter course. I had the advantage that when I tought first aid it never really ended. My problem is that taking a skid list off is included in first aid books and then isn't coverd. I think it should just be left out

 

[bambodoggy]

Too right Mate..... Hey, looks like everyone's in agreement on here for once!!! Yippy!!!! ): ): ):

 

[Andy]

while we're at it emergancy child birth should be left out as well

I only know one first aider that done any practice with a mock up and that was on a dedicated course

 

[arctic hobo]

while we're at it emergancy child birth should be left out as well

I only know one first aider that done any practice with a mock up and that was on a dedicated course

I covered this on my ocean first aid, as although people shouldn't go cruising when expecting I have to be qualified to deliver if it comes to it. The mock ups are rubbish though :thumbs_do

before going to Russia, I have jabs for Hep A, Hep B, Diphtheria, maybe a couple of others... so I may have had a Tetanus jab, too

Were these compulsory? When I went to Russia we had no injections. Or does it depend on the area you're going to :?:

 

[bambodoggy]

I didn't have any injections for Russia either but I was only staying in and around the Moscow area so I'm guessing you only need them if you are travelling out into the wilds.... :?:


We did the child birth thing on the very first four day course I ever took but it hasn't been included in any course since that I have done.
Same applies to drug use/mis-use and over dose, that was in the first course but has been left out of each course since.

 

[shinobi]

Agreed.
I've noticed that the FAW course is gradually being eroded from what you should do to what you should not do. This was very noticeable on my last refresher where I felt that I could have got through the practical assessment just by walking into the room and telling the victim I did not feel confident to treat them and was going to call an ambulance :roll:

I'm on my refresher course next week and I'm dreading it :shock: the training has been reduced from four days down to two. It is no longer being held by St. Johns, it is being held by some tin-pot company that quoted the lowest charges to the company. If I do not feel confident that their training is up to scratch, I will be handing back my first aider badge and telling British airways to poke it !! I will do the course externally with St. Johns for my own reasons such as the SAR team but I will not be exercising my duty at work.

There. I've well and truly hoisted my flag up the pole now !!!

Cheers,

Martin

 

[bambodoggy]

Agreed.
I've noticed that the FAW course is gradually being eroded from what you should do to what you should not do. This was very noticeable on my last refresher where I felt that I could have got through the practical assessment just by walking into the room and telling the victim I did not feel confident to treat them and was going to call an ambulance :roll:

I'm on my refresher course next week and I'm dreading it :shock: the training has been reduced from four days down to two. It is no longer being held by St. Johns, it is being held by some tin-pot company that quoted the lowest charges to the company. If I do not feel confident that their training is up to scratch, I will be handing back my first aider badge and telling British airways to poke it !! I will do the course externally with St. Johns for my own reasons such as the SAR team but I will not be exercising my duty at work.

There. I've well and truly hoisted my flag up the pole now !!!

Cheers,

Martin

I'm on my frefresher course on Thursday and Friday of this week...my 4 day cert runs out the end of March so I needed to re do it.
I believe (and could be wrong) that if you do the refresher before you current 4 day thing runs out then you only do the two days but if it's already lapsed then you have to do the whole four days again.
I'm lucky in that I can book whatever course I want and my work just pays for it....I'm doing a St.Johns as I know the teaching will be up to it compared to others.

We did discuss the reduction in training on my last course and the St.Johns trainer was of the opinion that things like child Birth and Drug mis-use were being dropped in order for there to be more time on other things and that it was very unlikely that as a workplace first aider we would encounter them. Personally I prefer to know than not BUT I can see their point and have to agree with it, we dont' get many pregnant people working in Engineering! ): She did say that if it was a specific course for a particular occupation then they would taylor it as such...e.g Nursery assistants would do more on CPR for kids and babies....which makes sense.
She also said they didn't want to over load the students with info they will most likely never use....again, it's different if you're out in the wilds but in Surrey I'm never more than 10 to 15mins tops from an ambulance.
And....without being rude, the course is open to the public of any type and there were some complete mongs on my last course who had I been the trainer or assesor (as I used to be) I would not have wanted to try to teach them too much as their brains seemed to find it hard to cope with the limited subjects we did do!!!!

 

[bambodoggy]

Cool....passed my reassesment on Thursday and Friday....hadn't looked at this forum since Wednesday and found over 800 posts I'd missed in four days!!!! You guys and gals have been busy little bee's!!!! :rolmao:

 

[shinobi]

Well done Phil :biggthump
Mine starts tomorrow. I hope it's ok !!

Cheers,

Martin

 

[bambodoggy]

Good luck Mate.....sure it'll be fine, they haven't changed as much this time as they usually have! :biggthump