Common First Aid Mistakes to Avoid

Mistakes to avoid

Since First aid involves life and death situations, you have to be cautious while applying first aid, there are alot of things that could go wrong if you are not being cautious. Avoiding common mistakes can help ensure the well being of the patient and prevent further complications.

Here are some of the common mistakes people make in first aid.

Personal safety

It is impossible to save others when you put yourself in a dangerous situation, so before providing care to patients, always do scene surveys and assess the potential threats that could harm you and others in that area. There could be at times, dangers involving electricity, chemicals and unstable structures, so prioritise your safety.

Don't do everything alone.

There are limitations to one's knowledge and skills. If the situation is severe and you maybe not be confident in your capability, the best option is to call and wait for help.

You should always stay prepared and try to do things to the best of your abilities but when its out of reach, you shouldn’t do more than what you can.

Proper assessment

Immediate measures are important, when the patient is in a critical situation the right thing to do may seem like focusing on what visually looks the worst however in the midst of all the pain the patient goes through, the small details and the small pain injuries are ignored. First aid responders are to look and assess the patient thoroughly as the small unnoticed injuries may cause further complications sooner or later.

After a proper assessment, you are to take the appropriate course of action.

Infection control

What is the point of saving others if you risk yourself after saving them, a patient may have an infection that you could get if you do not take proper measures after helping them.

Always wash your hands using hand sanitizers before and after applying first aid, and if possible wear disposable gloves, this not only helps you but also the patient from potential contaminants.

Changing location

A common mistake is to carelessly move patients to another location, which could be the right course of action in an emergency, however sometimes what happens is moving patients could worsen their injuries that involve their spine or fractures, so it's best to avoid moving them around without carefully checking.

In an emergency you are to move the patient by supporting their head, neck, back and immobilised their spinal injuries and do this with caution as a wrong move could put them in a worse situation.

Applying pressure

Anything done excessively results in bad things, the same way when we perform first aid, it is important to apply direct pressure and use clean cloth or bandage but excessive force may hinder blood circulation or cause tissue damage. It's good to be cautious and if there's been excessive force used and bleeding on patients doesn’t stop, additional dressing and reapplying pressure is required.

Appropriate medications and remedies.

Administering wrong medications could potentially worsen the patient's condition or it may negatively alter with the other medications being consumed.

It is important to avoid handing any medication or remedies without proper training and knowledge. It is best to seek professional help for such a situation.

Soon AidBoost will come with a platform to oversee such situations by guiding people to give the right medications and remedies. Tune in till then.

Monitoring patient’s condition

As things move on, there will be a change in the patient’s vitals, symptoms and consciousness. It is important to regularly reassess, recommended every 5 minutes.While reassing, try and adjust your techniques as necessary.

It is important not to overlook this as these changes could get worse and it’s your responsibility to keep a check on it and write reports.

There are more

There are so many mistakes that one could make, these are just some of the common ones listed. Don’t get discouraged as people can make mistakes, but it's important to try and improve our knowledge and skills everyday to avoid these mistakes as much as we can.

If you need a place to learn or reassess your knowledge without appointing schedules or having to read a whole first aid instruction book, you can refer to AidBoost, it will be quick and efficient and they have customer services for at times of emergency.

Sooner or later, AidBoost is aiming to launch an app, which will be accessible to everyone and will have an offline option. This app will help you learn, practice, teach and share first aid practices.