How to Save a Life
July 25th, 2011No, it is not about the song from the band “The Fray”. But for you not to lose a friend or anyone for the matter, you should know how to save a life. You are not a medical doctor. You are not a nurse. But you can make a difference and save lives! How? It is about basic life support (BLS). Not being part of the medical field is not an excuse for you not to be equipped with basic knowledge on basic life support. Accidents happen anywhere and you will never know when you will be needing it. So go out of your home prepared.
Basic life support pertains to the level of care provided immediately for patients with life threatening illnesses or injuries until fully trained emergency medical personnel arrives to take over outside the hospital setting. It includes recognition of signs of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), heart attack, stroke, and foreign-body airway obstruction (FBAO); cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); and defibrillation with an automated external defibrillator (AED).
Providing basic life support means being the first rescuer to arrive at the scene and provide initial care. You call for help and do the basic steps right away:
1.) Assessing for danger: make sure the site is clear from danger and from on lookers.
2.) Assessing for responsiveness: Make a firm tap on the victims shoulder and ask if he is okay. If no response, assess for pain by pinching. If none, proceed to the next step.
3.) Assessing for airway: do head tilt chin lift method. Check if nothings blocking the airway passage
4.) Assessing for breathing: place you cheeks near the patient’s airway passageway, if no air is felt, provide ventilation. Give two initial breaths per mouth. See to it that the victim’s chest rises as you blow in.
5.) Assessing for circulation: check victim’s pulse. If no pulse is felt, give compressions right away with ventilation in between at a ratio of 30:2. Adequate pumping and providing ventilation is important to keep the vital organs well perfused. Continue to the cycle until advance help arrives or patient regains consciousness.
An important advance in providing BLS is t the availability of the automated external defibrillator or AED. This improves survival outcomes in cardiac arrest cases.
So be prepared and help save a life.
Tags: basic life support, cpr, life, save