First
Aid
In
attending an injured person:
1.
Keep the injured person lying down in a comfortable position, his head level
with his body, until you know whether the injury is serious.
2.
Look for hemorrhage, stoppage of breathing, poisoning, wounds, burns,
fractures, and dislocations. Be sure you locate every injury. Remove enough
clothing to determine the extent of the injury. Rip the seams if necessary.
Attempts to remove the clothes in the usual manner may cause unnecessary
suffering or may aggravate injury. Serious bleeding, stoppage of breathing, and
poisoning must be treated immediately before anything else is done.
3.
Send someone to call a physician or an ambulance.
4.
Keep calm and do not be hurried into moving an injured person I unless
absolutely necessary.
5.
Never give water or other liquid to an unconscious person.
6.
Keep onlookers away from the injured.
7.
Make the patient comfortable and keep him cheerful, if possible.
8.
Don't let the patient see his own injury.
Shock
Any
person severely injured may develop shock, and treatment must be started
immediately to prevent shock, if possible. This involves:
1.
Prevention of hemorrhage by application of pressure.
2.
Maintaining body temperature by covering the patient with a blanket but not
applying heat.
3.
Increasing the flow of blood to vital organs by tilting the body so that the
blood tends to flow to the upper portions, raising the foot of the stretcher or
bed from twelve to eighteen inches.
4.
Except when there is abdominal injury, giving fluids in small amounts and
frequently, preferably as hot as can be taken comfortably.
5.
Administering artificial respiration as described later, if necessary, to
restore breathing.
Dressing
And Bandages
Do
not use absorbent cotton directly over a wound or bum because it sticks and is
hard to remove. Do not use adhesive tape, electrician's tape, collodion, or
similar materials directly on a wound. Apply sterilized gauze squares or
bandage compresses to wounds. Bandages are not applied directly over wounds,
which should always be covered first with a dressing.
Wounds
Do
not touch any wound with the hand, mouth, clothing, or any unclean material.
Apply a sterile dressing or compress and bandage snugly in place. When bleeding
is present, apply a dressing as soon as available; press firmly. Make sure that
bleeding is stopped before moving the patient. Tourniquets are dangerous, and
should not be used if bleeding can be checked readily otherwise. Whenever there
is serious bleeding get a physician as soon as possible to take responsibility
for care of the patient.
Puncturing
Wounds
Always
secure a physician, who will not only treat the wound itself but may give
tetanus antitoxin for prevention of lockjaw.
Powder
Burns
Explosion
of gunpowder usually carries burned powder and dirt into the skin. Make sure
that the patient is seen by a physician. The value of tetanus antitoxin in such
cases cannot be over-emphasized.
Infected
Wounds
Apply
wet dressings, consisting of three heaping tablespoonfuls of ordinary salt, or
twice this amount of Epsom salts, in each quart of water. Change wet dressing
often enough to keep hot, and apply continuously for an hour. Repeat every
three to four hours until the patient is turned over to a physician.
Wounds
Of Abdomen
Keep
the patient lying quietly on his back. Move patients with wounds of the abdomen
carefully. When intestines protrude from wound, keep patient on back with a
coat or pillow under the knees. Don't try to push the intestine back in. Cover
with a sterile dressing and keep moist.
Animal
Bites
Wash
the wound thoroughly to remove saliva. Use a gauze compress and a thick
solution of soap and water to scrub the wound. Rinse it with clean running
water and apply a sterile dressing. Consult a physician at once. Do not kill
the biting animal except to protect others from danger. Have biting animals
examined by competent veterinarians to determine whether or not they have
rabies.
Snake
Bites
Make
the victim lie down and keep quiet. Tie a constricting band firmly around the
limb just above the bite, to restrict the spread of the poison. Sterilize a
sharp knife or razor blade with a match flame, iodine, or alcohol. Make a
cross-cut incision about one-quarter-inch long through each fang mark. Apply
suction with a suction cup or syringe; apply suction by mouth if a mechanical
device is not available. Call a doctor as promptly as possible. Antivenin serum
should be given by someone experienced, if it is available.
Foreign
Bodies In Wounds
If
a foreign body like a splinter, a piece of glass or metal is near the surface,
apply an antiseptic to the skin. Sterilize a knife, needle, or tweezers by
passing through a flame; use this to remove foreign body. Encourage a little
bleeding by gentle pressure on the wound. After bleeding has stopped apply a
sterile compress.
Foreign
Body In The Eye
Never
rub the eye. Never touch it until you have washed your hands thoroughly. Never
be rough with the eye. Never try to remove a foreign body from the eye with a
toothpick, match, knife blade, or any instrument.
Pull
down the lower eyelid and see if the foreign substance is on the surface of the
lower lid. If visible, it can be removed by touching it with a comer of a clean
hand kerchief. Grasp the eyelashes of the upper lid gently between the thumb
and forefinger. Have the patient look upward, and pull the upper eyelid upward
and downward over the lower eyelid. This may dislodge a foreign body, so that
it will be washed away by the tears. Wash the eye with a solution of boric acid
(a half teaspoonful to a drinking glass of boiled water). If foreign bodies are
still present, make sure that the patient has attention from a physician.
Nosebleed
Have
patient sit up with head thrown slightly back, breathing through mouth. Apply
cold wet compresses over the nose. Tell person with nosebleed not to blow nose
for a few hours. Press the nostril on the bleeding side firmly against the
middle portion for four or five minutes. If these measures do not stop the
bleeding in a few minutes, call a physician. Try putting sterile gauze pack
back in the nostril, leaving the end out so it can be easily removed.
Internal
Bleeding
Keep
the patient lying on his back as flat as possible. Turn the head to one side
for vomiting or coughing. Keep the patient warm. Get a physician at the
earliest possible moment.
About
The Author
David
Crawford is the CEO and owner of a Natural Male Enhancement company known as
Male Enhancement Group which is dedicated to researching and comparing male
enhancement products in order to determine which male enhancement product is
safer and more effective than other products on the market. Copyright 2010 David
Crawford.