Top 3 Objectives of First Aid

Everybody needs to know the basics of first aid. It comes handy at some or the other point in life. Not everybody holds a first aid certificate though; some people perform first aid, even without a certificate in hand. For instance, when a child gets hurt, the mother cleans up the wound, applies bandage etc, for which she might not have a first aid certificate. But these are basic first aid technique which almost everyone knows.

Some people take keen interest in providing first aid as a help to general public. They usually take up first aid courses and obtain a certificate. There are various means to obtain a first aid certificate. You can either contact your nearest health center or your social center; enroll into a crash course or a full course.

But before deciding whether you want a certificate or just want general information on it, you need to realize the importance of first aid. Why do you need first aid?

Well, there are 3 very important reasons for proving first aid:

• To save somebody's life

• To avoid more injury

• To support healing.

Like any other medical aid, the basic or elementary goal of providing first aid is to save life. You cannot always depend on a doctor to be present to save somebody's life. It is not possible for doctors to be around wherever anyone gets injured or in case of accidents. Therefore, someone who knows first aid can save your life.

The basic requirement to stay alive is to breathe free. When somebody falls unconscious, or gets choked, it gets difficult for them to breathe free. In case of choking, the first aider will use techniques that include putting pressure on the abdomen or slapping the back to remove the cause of choking and clearing the passage for the air to move in and out freely. If the victim is unable to breathe even after the air passage has been cleared, the first aider might perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR. In this the first aider gives mouth-to-mouth breathing to the victim and massages his or her chest simultaneously in order to aid normal flow of blood throughout the body.

Secondly, first aid aims to avoid more injury and to stop a wound from getting worse. When you perform first aid on somebody, you are helping him out of some danger. It might be as simple as moving the victim away from where he or she got hurt. For instance, by covering a burning victim with a blanket in case of fire, it is providing first aid to the victim. Similarly, covering a wound with a cloth to control bleeding is also another form of first aid.

Last but not least is to provide help in healing. In some cases, first aid might be the treatment to an injury like putting a bandage to a small scratch, whereas, in some cases, it could be the fist step to healing. People trained in first aid know how to manage any kind of situation from a small cut to a fracture, till the arrival of the medical team.