Emergency care: Do no harm!
12 main mistakes in emergency careLeonid Chebotansky, Olesya Sosnitskaya, Be Healthy magazine
First aid should be provided promptly and correctly.
And both words are key here: sometimes procrastination is like death, and sometimes it's better to do nothing than to do and harm. Why doesn't everything always go smoothly with first aid?
Because it is usually provided by non-professionals. We have all heard something about harnesses, bandages and splints, but quite often there is quite approximate information in memory about how and when to use it. As a result, the tourniquets are applied for several hours, and an indirect heart massage is performed directly on the broken ribs of the victim in an accident.
Top 12 mistakes in first aid1. Extra wiggles
Remember: those injured in an accident and those who fell from a height before the ambulance arrives can only be touched if it is physically dangerous to be where they lie (a burning house or car, a tilted tree, incoming water, etc.). The rule "do not move and do not turn the victim over without vital necessity" is written in blood and ink, deducing a terrible word "disability".
Suffice it to say that rescuers sometimes prefer to disassemble the car around the victim than forcibly pull him out of there.
There is also no need to pull people with a suspected heart attack or stroke once again. Such a person should not go to the hospital on his own two feet with support, he needs to be carried on a stretcher. Otherwise, the "hike" may cost him very dearly.
2. Reduction of "dislocations"You are 100% sure that the victim has a dislocation, and you are going to fix it.
Stop it! Ask yourself a simple question: Are your eyes capable of emitting X-rays? If the answer is "yes", then you should go to the Nobel Committee or to the nearest mental hospital. In other cases (in conditions other than the taiga or desert), it is impossible to adjust independently what looks like a dislocation. Because even an experienced doctor will not risk identifying such an injury by eye. Adequate actions in such a situation: immobilize the injured limb, call an ambulance and go to the emergency room.
Now about immobilization. Splinting is not tying a broken arm to a straight stick. If you decide to apply an improvised splint, keep in mind: the limb cannot be straightened forcibly! It is bandaged as it is – in the current most convenient position for the victim so that not only the fracture site is immobilized, but also two, and in some cases three nearest joints.
3. Inept harnessingWhen stopping bleeding by applying a tourniquet (starting with "not there" and ending with "for a long time"), so many mistakes are made that many experts urge to limit themselves to just a tight bandage, bend the limb in the joint that is above the affected vessel, or tightly tampon the wound.
In most cases, this is quite enough. At the same time, the bandages are not changed, but are applied one on top of the other. The doctors who arrived will be able to quickly assess the blood loss using them.
Well, if we are talking about the most terrible arterial bleeding, you should not waste precious time searching for a tourniquet. As soon as possible, squeeze the fountain of scarlet blood with your fingers, otherwise a person may not live to see the application of knowledge on flagellation.
Even in the case of arterial bleeding, remember that the estimated time of applying the tourniquet is no more than 1 hour in winter and 1.5-2 hours in summer. And it is better, regardless of the time of year, to dissolve the tourniquet every 20 minutes, so that later the victim does not "thank" for the lost limb.
4. Stopping nosebleeds by tilting the head backIf you throw your head back, the nose will stop bleeding.
But will the bleeding stop? No. Just the blood will drain into the nasopharynx, and then into the stomach. It seems like nothing fatal, but, first of all, we don't see if the bleeding continues or not? And secondly, there is such an unpleasant thing as bloody vomiting.
In case of nosebleed adequate help: slightly tilt the victim's head forward, tampon the nostrils with a clean cloth or cotton wool soaked in hydrogen peroxide, and then find out the cause of what happened.
5. Drug therapy on a whimThis is the most "weighty" item of the program, because, despite the direct prohibitions of doctors "this medicine is prescribed only to you, do not advise it to anyone", in our culture it is customary to recommend drugs for internal use, based on the magic method of analogy – "once it helped me or someone else in this situation, it means ...".
So – it doesn't mean anything!
If a person is ill, do not offer him medications that helped in a similar situation. Firstly, it is absolutely not a fact that similar external symptoms are caused by the same problem. Secondly, medicines have application features, contraindications and side effects that are not obvious to people without medical education.The most common "medicinal" mistake is to offer nitroglycerin to everyone who holds on to the chest.
The consequences of such assistance may be worse than one can imagine, up to a sharp decrease in pressure to a critical level. The only exception: the victim himself asks for a certain drug or inhaler. In this case, most likely, he is chronicled and has recommendations from the attending physician.
6. Artificial vomiting in cases where it should not be allowedIn case of poisoning, it is usually advised to induce vomiting in the victim.
However, this should absolutely not be done if poisoning with acid, alkali and other caustic substances is suspected. If vomiting is justified, then you do not need to use potassium permanganate, soda, etc. yourself. All you need is a lot of warm water.
7. Put a spoon in his mouth – the package is incorrectMost often, epileptics suffer from forcibly sticking something in their teeth.
From spoons, screwdrivers and even knives, with which compassionate citizens try to help with an attack, there is a lot of harm (broken teeth and throat injuries from metal and obstruction of the trachea and bronchi from more fragile objects), and there is usually little sense. It is not necessary to hold the epileptic by the arms and legs with all your strength, it is enough to slightly support the head to avoid injury, and when the convulsions subside, turn the person sideways.
8. Oil on the burn, iodine in the woundGrandmother's "smear the burn with oil" has become ingrained in the consciousness of entire generations and is hardly etched out even by persistent slotting "impossible, impossible, impossible".
It is impossible to lubricate a fresh burn with oil or all kinds of panthenols. Unless, of course, there is a desire to aggravate the situation. It is correct to cool the affected area with cold water, but not for a minute or two, but 10-15-20.
Pouring iodine, alcohol and greenery into a deep wound is also pointless – it will not bring any benefit. Only harm. In inept hands, these substances are only needed to lubricate scratches. Otherwise, it is safer for "dummies" to use hydrogen peroxide.
9. Slaps on the back of the chokedThis common way to help a choked person is not the safest.
In certain cases, such pops can contribute to an even deeper penetration of a foreign body into the respiratory tract. It is impossible to determine whether this case will fall into the category of dangerous in advance, so the best strategy in this case is for the victim himself (if possible without panic) to lean forward and make a few sharp exhalations. Or others can grab him from behind under the armpits and put pressure on the solar plexus (not on the chest).
10. Inept cardiopulmonary resuscitationIn theory, everyone should be able to do indirect heart massage and artificial respiration, at least they teach this starting from school.
But if you don't know how, then it's better not to take it. And if you can, then consider a few comments. First, if a person's heart is beating and a pulse is being felt, such events are not necessary! Secondly, it is not necessary and dangerous to beat with all the dope on the sternum. A precardial blow inflicted by a layman, most likely, will not bring any benefit, but you can break your ribs and cause a lot more injuries.
11. Extraction of objects from woundsYou can get a splinter from your finger, a nail that slightly punctured the skin or a fragment of a plate that clearly did not cut the finger in half.
But never, in any case, it is impossible to remove any objects from a more or less serious wound. Even if a piece of rusty wire sticks out in a person. If you are worried about an infection, it's already too late, the whole infection has been inside for a long time, you can fight it later, unlike bleeding. The ambulance doctors are not holding knives and other extraneous things in place for the investigator's uncle until the moment when the victim finds himself in a deployed operating room. Because in an open field, on the road or at home, they will have nothing to stop the bleeding, which may open after removing the object from the wound, and make up for the blood loss.
No matter how scary a person with a knife in his chest looks, it is absolutely impossible to take it out yourself.
12. Alcohol therapyAlcohol anesthesia has become more firmly established in folklore than we would like.
Before offering someone cognac for anesthesia or snowdrift, it is better to look for other options for providing assistance or to refrain from it altogether. Firstly, in a drunken frenzy, pain sensitivity changes, and this is extra movement with fractures and difficulty in making a diagnosis. Secondly, most medicines are not designed to be taken simultaneously with alcohol. Not to mention that a drunk patient is a nightmare of a doctor who needs to be subdued and assisted at the same time.
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In general, it is sometimes dangerous to provide pre–medical care - you can do harm. In the USA, there is a "Good Samaritan" law, according to which a person providing pre-medical care in an emergency situation cannot then be dragged to court for possible harm. And there were such cases.
Does this mean that you need to abandon the fallen to the mercy of fate, leave the bleeding and remain indifferent to someone else's misfortune? Of course not. Another thing is that you always need to measure your actions with competence. And also listen carefully to what they teach at OBZH and take first aid courses. They are offered by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Red Cross, driving schools, tourist clubs and many other organizations.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru26.12.2008