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First Aid:
First aid is the provision of limited care for an illness or injury, which is provided, usually by a lay person, to a sick or injured patient until definitive medical treatment can be accessed, or until the illness or injury is dealt with (as not all illnesses or injuries will require a higher level of treatment). It generally consists of series of simple, sometimes life saving, medical techniques, that an individual, either with or without formal medical training, can be trained to perform with minimal equipment. First aid can also be performed on animals other than humans, although this article refers specifically to human first aid.

Aims:
The 3 main aims of first aid, commonly referred to as the “3 Ps” are:
Preserve life
Prevent further injury
Promote recovery
In addition, some trainers may also advocate a 4th ‘P’ - Protect yourself, although this is not technically an ‘aim’ of providing first aid, and some people would consider that it is adequately covered by ‘Prevent further injury’ as this is to the casualty, yourself or others.
Training:
Much of first aid is common sense, and people are almost certain to learn some elements as they go through their life (such as knowing to apply an adhesive bandage to a small cut on a finger). However, effective life-saving first aid requires hands-on training by experts, especially where it relates to potentially fatal illnesses and injuries, such as those that require Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), as the procedures may be invasive, and carry a risk of further injury to the patient - which the ‘3 aims’ of first aid above, clearly try to avoid. As with any training, it is more useful if it occurs before an actual emergency, although in many countries, emergency ambulance dispatchers will give basic first aid instructions over the phone while the ambulance is on its way. To be adequately trained, a person must attend a course (hopefully leading to a qualification recognised in their country), but then, due to regular changes in procedures and protocols, based on updated clinical knowledge, must attend regular refresher courses or re-certification in order to ensure they are doing the best for their patient (and in some countries, to minimise the chance of being held liable for further injury or deterioration). Training in first aid is often available through community organizations such as the Red Cross and St. John Ambulance, or through commercial providers, who will train people for a fee. This commercial training is most common for training of employees to perform first aid in their workplace. Many community organisations, such as the ones above, also provide a commercial service, which complements their community programmes.
Key First Aid Skills:
There are certain skills which can be regarded as core, regardless of where or how first aid is taught. These should always be treated in the order of priority, usually given by the “3 Bs”:
Breathing
Bleeding
Bones
This means that any first aider should first seek to treat any problems with Breathing, before attempting to deal with a bleed or broken bone (which is not to say that they should not be considered at the time - such as in the case of a spinal injury, where a variation on the technique can be used to open the airway).
Preserving Life:
As the key skill to first aid is preserving life, the single most important training a first aider can receive is in the primary diagnosis and care of an unconscious or unresponsive patient. The most common mnemonic used to remember the procedure for this is ABC, which stands for Airway, Breathing and Circulation. In order to preserve life, all persons require to have an open airway - a clear passage where air can move in through the mouth or nose through the pharynx and down in to the lungs, without obstruction. Conscious people will maintain their own airway automatically, but those who are unconscious (with a GCS of less than 8) may be unable to maintain a patent airway, as the part of the brain which autonomously controls in normal situations may not be functioning. If an unconscious patient is lying on his or her back, the tongue may fall backward, obstructing the oropharynx (sometimes incorrectly called “swallowing” the tongue). This can be easily rectified by a first aider tipping the head backwards, which mechanically lifts the tongue clear. If the patient was breathing, a first aider would normally then place them in the recovery position, with the patient leant over on their side, which also has the effect of clearing the tongue from the pharynx. It also avoids a common cause of death in unconscious patients, which is choking on regurgitated stomach contents. The airway can also become blocked through a foreign object becoming lodged in the pharynx or larynx, commonly called choking. The first aider will be taught to deal with this through a combination of ‘back slaps’ and ‘abdominal thrusts’. Once the airway has been opened, the first aider would assess to see if the patient is breathing. If there is no breathing, or the patient is not breathing normally, such as agonal breathing, the first aider would undertake what is probably the most recognised first aid procedure - Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR, which involves breathing for the patient, and manually massaging the heart to promote blood flow around the body.
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