We never know, anything could happen to anyone at any time. Everyone is vulnerable to injuries and accidents, we can’t always avoid accidents, they just happen at times! Maybe to you or someone near you, this is a first aid guide for college students.
When you come across someone who’s got a cut in their hand, you never panic, you give them some first aid with ease. But when you see a person having a seizure, falling unconscious, choking or having heavy bleeding you start to panic.
Getting panic is not helping anyone. Don’t panic and don’t let anyone panic. Have a feeling that you’ve got this! This is why it’s so important to know some basic first aid methods.
Students should organize an emergency response and First-aid training sessions on your campus. It’s always better to have some first-aid skills. It could save a life.
A quick first aid can get you through a minor or major medical emergency until the medical help arrives. Wrong first aid is even more dangerous than no first-aid. Enrolling in a basic first aid course is worth it since it could save lives!
This is a basic first-aid guide every student must know,
First Things in First-Aid
This first aid guide for college students will help you or someone you know for sure!
- Before you help someone, Assess the situation and check for your safety
- If things are safe for you, ask someone near you to call an ambulance, if there is no one nearby call it by yourself
- Don’t move the victim unless required.
- Follow universal precautions for yourself
- Do the right first-aid
What is Universal Precaution?
This is a set of guidelines given to the treating doctors, hospital staff or anyone who can get infected by pathogens from a patient.
This was 1st introduced in 1985 by the Centers for Disease Control following the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) outbreak. This Universal Precaution is to prevent any kind of bloodborne pathogens from the patients to affect anyone else.
- As per the guideline, a patient’s blood is always assumed to be contaminated with pathogens. Before you get in contact with their blood or body fluids you must wear a medical glove or any other kind of barrier
- Even though there is a barrier between you and the blood, you should always wash your hands after that using soap or any disinfectant
- Any kind of sharp objects that are used on the patient must be disposed of in the right way
BFirst Aid Guide For College Students
This first aid guide for college students contains some of the most commonly used first-aid methods and its situation,
Heavy Bleeding
Often when you see a person who has met with a road accident and is struggling for their life with heavy bleeding, you could see a lot of people walk past them as if there is nothing wrong.
It’s too sad to know they are worried about the consequences or enquiries that may happen later to them instead of saving a life.
This kind of ignorance must be avoided. The government of India encourages people to help road accident victims. The Central Government considers it very important to protect the Good Samaritans. Protection of Good Samaritans should be followed by hospitals, police and other authorities. This will stop the harassment faced by the people who help the victims.
So next time when you see a road accident victim, don’t walk away without helping.
- All you have to do to someone bleeding is to stop it. All kinds of bleedings are stoppable, minors bleedings are stopped with a bandage or just by applying some pressure over the cut
- However, if it’s severe, it has to be stopped immediately. Else it may give a shock to the victim and then death due to the same
- To stop a heavy bleeding wrap a bandage around the affected area and put pressure over the injury so that the bleeding will stop.
- This will reduce blood loss until medical help arrives.
- It should be done carefully since it may cause some damage to the tissue too. If the bandage is too tight to stop the blood flow to the limbs, it may cause tissue damage. Also, it should be firm and should sit in a place to stop the bleeding.
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) for Cardiac Arrest
Had you attended any first-aid course or seminar it wouldn’t have ended without having an explanation about the CPR technique. It is such an important first aid that everyone should know it. But many people do lack knowledge about it.
This is the only thing that could save a person having a cardiac arrest. If not done immediately and waited for medical help to arrive it could cause death!
These are the steps that should be taken for treating a cardiac arrest,
- Without delaying a minute, start the chest compression. Regardless of your training just start compressing the centre of the patient’s chest hard with your palm. The compressions must be hard enough and must have a very small gap between them.
- While doing so, command someone else to call an ambulance or a person who is well trained in CPR.
- An automated external defibrillator can be used for giving CPR.
First Aid for Treating Burns
As a student small burns here and there is a common thing to happen. But if you find a burn victim the first thing that you should do is to stop the burn.
Be it electricity, oil, fire anything for that matter first put off the source of burn. If you find the burn to be a second or third-degree one, immediately call for medical assistance.
However, if the burn is mild, run it under the cold tap water for fifteen minutes. Over-the-counter painkillers can be given to the victims to relieve pain.
First Aid for Fractures
Fractures can be very painful. Though you can’t do much about it, we should help the patient to relieve the pain for the time being.
We can’t confirm a fracture unless an x-ray is taken. But when the victim is in incredible pain we can suspect a fracture.
When you suspect one you should follow these instructions
- Keep the fractured area immobile
- Don’t move the victim until the ambulance arrives
- Place a cold pack on the injured area
- Apply topical pain relievers
- Can give over-the-counter painkillers to relieve the pain
First-Aid Guide on Allergic Reactions
College students must also be aware of first-aid given for allergic reactions. Some students are extremely allergic to those conditions that are life-threatening. They get allergic to anything from certain food items or insect stings.
If you see someone with allergic conditions and could see their condition worsening, like pale skin, itchiness, redness on the skin, swelling. Ask the affected person if he is carrying an epinephrine auto-injector and administer it and call the ambulance immediately. The epinephrine auto-injector treats the symptoms of anaphylaxis by stopping the airway from swelling.
There are a lot more in First-Aid for a student to know about. Every student must learn about these life-saving techniques as early as possible. While you save fellow people the StuCred is dedicated to saving you students from financial crisis situations.
Download our app here, and enjoy financial freedom in student life!
