Medical Track: First Response, Industrial Medicine and Space Health · Module 1 of 4 · about 15 min
The first minutes
In serious injuries, what happens before the ambulance arrives often decides the outcome. The first job is scene safety: make sure whatever hurt the patient will not hurt you. Then call for help, and send someone for the AED and the bleeding kit.
Uncontrolled bleeding can kill in minutes. The Stop the Bleed program teaches three moves: apply firm direct pressure, pack deep wounds with gauze, and use a tourniquet for life-threatening bleeding from an arm or leg. Stop the Bleed training places the tourniquet 2 to 3 inches above the wound, not on a joint, and tightens it until the bleeding stops. Note the time it went on.
For an adult in cardiac arrest, the American Heart Association calls for hard, fast chest compressions at 100 to 120 per minute, at least 2 inches deep, letting the chest come all the way back up between pushes. Use an AED as soon as it arrives and follow its prompts.
Reading this is not training. Take a hands-on Stop the Bleed and CPR class, and refresh it, because skills fade.
Sources
Module quiz
5 questions, 4 correct to pass. You'll see what you missed and why, and you can retake it.