How is Examining a Casualty for First Aid

How is examining a casualty for first aid?

What you have to do when you find casualty in front of you? Before you do your action to help the casualty, you should examine the casualty . A detailed examination of the casualty should be undertaken only after taking any vital action needed. As first aider you may need to move or remove clothing, but ensure that, at every stage of your examination, you do not move the casualty more than is absolutely necessary. Always start at the head and work down; the " top-to-toe" routine is both easily remembered and thorough.

Top-to-toe-survey

1. Run your hands carefully over the scalp to feel for bleeding, swelling or depression, that may indicate a possible fracture. Be careful not to move any casualty who you think may have injured her neck, especially if she is unconscious.

2. Speak clearly to the casualty in both ears to see if she responds or if she can hear. Look for blood or clear fluid (or a mixture of both) coming from either ear. These may be signs of damage inside skull.

3. Examine both eyes, noting if they are open, the size of the pupils, whether they are equal in size, and whether they react to light (each pupil should shrink when light falls on it). Look for any foreign body, blood, or bruising in the whites of the eyes.

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How to check Signs and Symptoms for first Aider

How to check Signs and Symptoms for first Aider

For First Aider, to determine signs and symptoms casualty's are necessary. It will help to make first aid effective and efficient. little things you know about checking signs and symptoms can save life for casualty's, injuries and humans.It can be happened any time, any where to any body in our daily life.

First of all you have to know that every injury and illness manifests itself in distinctive ways that may help your diagnosis. These indications are divided into two groups; signs and symptoms. Some will be obvious, but others may be missed unless you examine the casualty thoroughly from head to toe. A conscious casualty should be examined, wherever possible, in the position found, or with any obvious injury comfortably supported; and unconscious casualty's airway must first be opened and secured. do not remove clothing unnecessarily and do not leave the casualty exposed to cold conditions any longer than required.

Use your sense-look, listen, feel, and smell. Be quick and alert, but be thorough, and do not make unjustified assumptions. You should handle the casualty gently, but your touch must be firm enough to ensure that you feel any swelling or irregularity or detect a tender spot. ask a conscious casualty to describe any sensations your touch causes.

Assessing symptoms

Symptoms are sensations that the casualty experiences, and may be able to describe, if she is conscious. Ask if she has any abnormal sensation, if there is any pain, where it is felt, what type of pain it is, and how movement affects it. If the pain did not follow any injury, find out how and where it began. Severe pain in one place can mask a more serious, but less painful, injury in another.

Ask if there are any other symptoms such as nausea, giddiness, heat, cold, weakness, or thirst. All symptoms should be assessed and confirmed, wherever appropriate, by an examination for signs of injury or illness.

Looking for Signs

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The Practice of First Aid

The practice of first Aid

In most situations that require first aid, there will be on life-threatening danger. You will simply be assisting a conscious casualty, whose recovery from some minor injury or illness is not in doubt. in all cases, your aim is to work a plan and discover what is wrong with the casualty, and to give prompt, correct treatment in a methodical way.

Assessing the situation

Before tending to a casualty, however, you must survey the whole scene. Your first responsibility is to make sure that the area is safe. Often hazards such as passing traffic can be dealt with simply, but where the danger is too great or too imminent, you may need to move the casualty even at the risk of aggravating the injury. Do this only if it is safe to approach the casualty: you cannot help others if you also become a casualty. only when the casualty is safe can you begin to treat the illness or injury.

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How to Cope with Stress for First aider

Even for the most experienced First Aider, an emergency situation can be upsetting. It is natural to feel stressed whenever you are called upon to administer first aid, and to be very emotional once you have finished treating the casualty.

It is likely that the incident will affect you afterwards, so it is important to face up to how you feel and what has happened. In extreme cases, you may experience the more serious condition. Post -traumatic Stress Disorder.

Coping During an Emergency

Many First Aiders worry that they might not be able to cope in a real-life situation, but in fact your body has a natural mechanism that prompts you to act quickly in an emergency. In the "fight or flight "response, your body is prepared for physical exertion. So the stress you will feel is your body's way of getting you through a difficult situation.

Calming down

Although the "fight or flight" response is beneficial, sometimes too great a rush of adrenaline may effect your ability to cope. Taking slow, deep breaths will help you to calm down, leaving you better able to remember your first-aid procedures.

Fight or Flight response

When faced with any stressful situation, the body will automatically respond by releasing the hormones, adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol, which prepare the body to fight or flee. This response occurs in all animals as a reaction to a threatening or stressful situation, but in the human body signs include:

> a pounding heart

> deep, fast breathing

> pupils widening to let in more light

> increase sweeting

> alertness of mind

> greater blood flow to the muscles

> a rise in blood sugar level for energy

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