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UPMSP High School Disaster Mgmt study materials
UPMSP High School Disaster Mgmt study resources

UPMSP High School Disaster Mgmt: First Aid and Basic Life Support

UPMSP High School Disaster Mgmt · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

First Aid and Basic Life Support

The primary survey

Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing, Circulation. The golden hour is the first 60 minutes after injury, when simple correct action saves lives. The first aider's aim is to preserve life, prevent deterioration and promote recovery - not to diagnose.

Basic life support (adult)

  1. Ensure the scene is safe, then check response and breathing for no more than 10 seconds.
  2. Call 108 or 112 and send for an AED.
  3. Give 30 chest compressions: heel of the hand on the lower half of the sternum, depth 5-6 cm, rate 100-120 per minute, full recoil, minimal interruptions.
  4. Give 2 rescue breaths if trained - 30:2 - each about one second, with visible chest rise.
  5. Apply the AED as soon as it arrives and follow its voice prompts.
  6. Continue until the person breathes or help takes over. If breathing returns but the person is unconscious, use the recovery position.

Condition-specific rules

  • Bleeding: direct pressure, then dressing and elevation; a tourniquet only for catastrophic limb bleeding.
  • Burns: cool with clean running water for about 20 minutes; no ice, toothpaste, oil or butter; do not burst blisters.
  • Fracture: immobilise with a splint that includes the joints above and below; never try to straighten the limb.
  • Snake bite: keep the person calm and still, immobilise the limb at heart level, remove rings; no incision, no suction, no tourniquet; hospital for anti-snake venom.
  • Choking adult: 5 back blows, then 5 abdominal thrusts.
  • Heat stroke: shade, loosen clothing, cool with water and fan; fluids only if fully conscious.
  • Electric shock: switch off the current first; never touch the casualty with bare hands.

Worked example

A student collapses in assembly, unresponsive and not breathing normally. Reasoning: scene safe, check response, shout for help and call 108, send for the AED, then 30 compressions and 2 breaths, continuing until breathing returns or help arrives; then recovery position. Giving water to an unresponsive person is a fatal error and is tested exactly this way.

Traps

Quoting the wrong compression depth or rate; giving water to an unconscious casualty; toothpaste or ice on burns; cutting or sucking a snake bite.