First Aid and Emergency Response
Overview
First Aid and Emergency Response tests the first minutes of care: the primary survey, CPR, choking, bleeding, burns, fractures and common Assam emergencies such as snake bite, dog bite and drowning during floods.
Primary survey: ABCDE
- Airway: check patency; head tilt–chin lift if no spinal injury.
- Breathing: look, listen, feel.
- Circulation: pulse, severe bleeding control.
- Disability: level of consciousness, pupils.
- Exposure: examine for hidden injury while preventing heat loss.
CPR and choking
- Adult CPR: compressions 100–120/min, depth 5–6 cm, ratio 30 compressions to 2 breaths; use an AED as soon as available.
- Adult choking: five back blows, then five abdominal thrusts; if unconscious, start CPR.
Common emergencies
- Severe bleeding: direct pressure with a clean cloth, elevate, do not remove soaked cloth.
- Burns: cool with running water for about 20 minutes; never ice, toothpaste or oil.
- Fracture: immobilise in the found position; do not attempt to straighten.
- Snake bite: keep the limb still and below heart level, remove rings, transport urgently; no tourniquet, no cutting, no sucking.
- Dog bite: wash with soap and running water for 15 minutes, then rabies vaccination.
Worked example
A man collapses and is unresponsive with no normal breathing. Reasoning: call emergency services or ask a bystander to call, then begin chest compressions immediately at 30:2 and continue until help or an AED arrives. Do not spend time checking a pulse for long.
Traps that cost marks
- Giving water to an unconscious patient.
- Applying a tight tourniquet or cutting a snake-bite wound.
- Using ice on a burn.