(Disclaimer: none of this is intended to serve for doctor's advice, whatever you do to your own self is no fault of the establishment) When I went to requalify, we were told by our in instructor that, if on gun day we were so stupid as to shoot ourselves in the foot, we would get to explain to the ER people how we had not only shot ourselves in the foot, but why there was a tampon in our foot. Brilliant. Sterile first-aid dressing for bullet wounds. In the same vein, pads and duct tape would work for area wounds. Another little first-aid trick...3M vetbond. It's the same as medical wound glue, which is just slightly different from regular superglue. Regular superglue may cause a little tissue death but will work ok as a wound closure. Hopefully, too, you will never see a sucking chest wound. But if you see someone with one of these...you take a piece of plastic, tape it around the hole except for one corner. It will then act as a valve and keep the lung inflated long enough to keep them alive for a bit, hopefully long enough to get to a hospital. I was wondering if anyone else here has accumulated interesting first aid ideas?
Were you a Marine then? If I get a cut, I always pour salt on it. I rinse the cut under a tap to get rid of dirt. Then on goes the salt. Lots of it. I leave it caked in salt until it stops bleeding. There's something satisfying in the blood seeping into the white salt, but that's probably me being weird. I don't know whether it works as a disinfectant or not, but it damn well hurts. If it hurts, that's a good sign, surely. I've never had a cut infected.
Err no bad ideas sorry, first glue. Sure a hospital MIGHT glue a wound back together rather than use stiches, staples or steristrips but first they look at the type of wound, whats caused it, what may have gotten into it ect. At home all wounds shpuld be closed by natural healing to ensure you dont encaptulate bacteria and dirt and other junk. On sucking chest wounds. The current guidelines state to cover with a non permible dressing like gladwrap sealed on ALL sides because the one way valve was found to be inefective. As for good home first aid tips gladwrap, great for burns, large wounds and abdominal wounds especially where organs are pertruding
If I have a really bad cold, temperature etc. I always buy a bottle of Brandy. Some I drink neat, and the rest in hot water, with cloves and sugar. It must work, because I haven't had a bad cold for years, worst luck. Homer Voice: Aw, Why can't I get a bad cold for once?
All my recipes for good health are passed down to me. They may be hundreds of years old. The Salt and the Brandy are two, but there must be others if I could think of them. Here's another. Always take your coat off indoors in cold weather, or when you go outside it will do you no good. This also works, as I have never had Pneumonia. What more proof is required?
In the Army we were taught that if there is no other way to clean a wound to urinate on it. Specially if the wounded one is of higher rank.
I heard that before . That urine is a good disinfectant. We use all kinds of stuff on the job site . We usually had an up dated first aid kit on the job and that is all great and all , but before we were that responsible duck tape , masking tape , or a piece of T shirt . What ever ? Then we could go back to work cause time was money. My old Neighbor that sowed his finger back on with fishing line took the cake though . He was a sheet rocker . Sheet rockers have known to be crazy . He was . More than the average crazy sheet rocker
a few clean t-shirts (you don't care about) or sheet, a jumper, a roll of gladwrap, a roll of duct tape, a newspaper and some shears and you can treat virtually anything long enough to get to medical aid. The shirt\sheet make good bandages (just remember to wet them if there is a chance they will stick) A jumper makes a good c-collar but you still need to support the pts neck manually (you do with a commercial c-collar as well BTW) gladwrap for large wounds, abdominal wounds, burns Duct tape to secure bandages, help stop bleeding and make stretcher if needed (and a bridge if your the mythbustersPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image!) newspaper makes a good splint, just remember to pad it with something soft However the best piece of first aid equipment you can ever have is your mobile because if you cant call for help your rooted in alot of situations. The second best is planning, its better to use commercial grade equipment, it may make you sound tough to use duct tape but roller bandages, clean sterile dressings and sterile saline to clean wounds will reduce the risk of infection and will improve the healing of wounds. To give you an example of this there was a person after black sat who presented to the evacuation center when st john were there. There had been no first aid or medical aid available for 2 days. This person had severe burns to the arm which he had covered in Elastoplast (adhesive dressing). Needless to say he was sent straight on to hospital for a VERY painful removal (hopefully under sedation). Alcohol is no longer used in first aid in Australia at least, wounds are cleaned with normal saline only. Even at an ambulance level alcohol swabs and iodine swabs are only used for injections not for wound management. You dont need to disinfect a wound, you just need to irrigate it with saline. Oh and remember DO NOT clean the skin around an envenomation because the venom on the skin can help doctors determine what treatment is needed, just bandage over it and mark the site
I would think putting salt in your wounds would both disinfect and add to scarring-cause the cells to lyse and die.
I only know about tiny booboos (mostly on tiny people), and have some excellent suggestions that many people don't know. Let's start with some humor. If you hold a cut under cold running water, it will stop bleeding in 5 minutes. If you don't hold a cut under cold running water, it will stop bleeding in 5 minutes. :bugeye: It's very easy to carry a few self-adhesive bandages (aka Band-Aids) in a wallet or purse, yet few people do. Stretchable fabric bandages are far superior in several ways to the tourniquet-like not-as-sticky plastic bandages (so don't use the bandages with the cartoon characters). Two ¾ inch x 3 inch (or similar size) bandages is minimal, especially for parents of little kids (where 4 is even better). Apply the bandage lose enough to allow joints/skin to flex, which allows the wound to dry and seal itself from germs (otherwise it tends to stay moist and open). So flex the joint before applying loosely to the outside of the joint, and extend the joint before applying the bandage to the inside of the joint — or vice versa depending on the location of the wound. For example, flex the skinned knuckle and apply the bandage to the outside (letting the bandage stick to the sides of the knuckle), then extend the finger before applying the ends of the bandage to the inside of the joint. Parent with kids should also carry one of those little tubes of topical anesthesia meant for oral pain relief in children (aka teething pains). Similar liquid sold in spray bottles for adults also works. The gel can be applied to the bandage (to get a fussy child to accept a bandage), or to a cotton swab (to get a fussy child to allow you to clean the wound). The liquid can be sprayed or dribbled onto the wound. If no such medication is handy, gently rubbing the undamaged skin a few inches proximal (ie, closer to the heart) to the damaged area will help soothe the pain, which hopefully allows some work on the wound. Other first aid suggestions. Someone suffering electrocution (from electricity or lightning strike) might be unconscious and breathing, but their heart may have stopped, so during triage for lightning strikes and electrocutions, don't take the breathing as a sign that the person is otherwise "okay". You must check for a pulse. Even though a near drowning victim has revived/survived, do not assume that they are "okay". Going minutes without oxygen can cause acidic blood, which can result in death hours later. Seek emergency medical attention ASAP.
Im assuming your whole post is meant to be humours because there are some huge mistakes there. Firstly minor issue, fabric bandaids have been removed from workplace first aid kits and organisations like St John because of allergies (same reason latex gloves are no longer used). However there is NO WAY you can be breathing without a pulse. Even if it was possible it would only last a couple of seconds at most. You MAY be kicked into a rytham called Ventricular tachycardia which would cause poor perfusion. Other rythams are possible too but that's the most likely. As for near drowning that's not why you need to seek medical attention, lactic acid will break down naturally after O2 is restored. The risks that are of prime concern are things like pneumonia because the water and gunk you inhaled.
Asguard, There's plenty of fabric, latex-free bandages on the market. I would think that "plastic" bandages might contain latex. What part of the self-adhesive fabric bandage is latex – the fabric or the adhesive? I stand by the "breathing, no pulse" symptom from lightning strikes and electrocutions. I googled lightning breathing "no pulse" and found many sites that separate the two symptoms and their treatment (using separate sentences, or the use of "or" or "and/or"). So electrocution victims must be checked for both. I also stand by death by acidosis. The Merck manual mentions hospital care for near drowning: And there's also "delayed drowning" or "dry drowning" that I didn't mention.
First aid for minor to moderate lacerations on horses. Horses are notorious for getting cuts and scrapes in 'horseplay' and not the easiest shape for conventional bandaging. It is advisable to make sure they are current on their Tetanus shots or if the status is uncertain, obtain a Tetanus Toxoid shot from your veterinarian. Wash out the wound with plain water or saline. With clean hands pat on a coating of 'Cowboy Poultice' which is made as follows: I have treated some wicked looking cuts with this mixture, and had beautiful healing with virtually no scarring and no granular tissue. One wound was very nasty in the groin area of a gelding. I got the vet out for that one, yet he declined to stitch because of the location. Infection was sure to develop and needed to drain, and the horse was bound to pull the stitches. A large, hand sized flap of skin was hanging and he did not want to incise that either. That was the most gruesome wound I have treated on site and it was at that time that an old cowboy gave me the recipe. We ran the horse on a 10 day course of penicillin for that one, and cleaned and poulticed the wound for three weeks. He healed beautifully. As it was explained to me, the sugar draws fluid and helps crust over the wound while the soap kills bacteria and repels insects which carry other infectious nastiness.
If a person is not breathing and has no pulse, CPR is indicated. However, the C part (cardio-) of CPR is more important than the P part (pulminary) in the short run. The highest priority is to keep the patient's brain oxygenated. The brain requires an enormous amount of oxygen and without it it will start to die very quickly--so if you manage to keep his body alive he may end up with the IQ of a turnip. That said, even when a person stops breathing there is still some oxygen in his blood. But the brain quickly metabolizes all of the leftover oxygen in its own blood vessels. So your job is to pump that exhausted blood out of there and pump in some less-exhausted blood from other parts of the body which, while not rich in oxygen, at least has some oxygen. So if you don't manage to revive him quickly, then for the next couple of minutes you need to try to get the heart beating, even if he's not breathing. This is why you should concentrate on the CPR instructions for the heartbeat, and give the instructions for breathing a lower priority. Just pounding on it in slow rhythmic motions might help move the blood around, even if you can't get it to start on its own. There won't be enough oxygen in his brain to remain conscious, but you might be able to keep it from turning into a turnip if the EMTs arrive quickly enough. Obviously this is only good for a couple of minutes, eventually he has to restart breathing, but a couple of minutes may make an enormous difference. And here's a hint I heard about heart attacks. I have not verified it but it certainly makes sense. If you feel your heart stop beating, start coughing very strongly. The coughing muscles are close enough to the heart that they're doing a semblance of CPR on it. And then if worse comes to worse, a tip for dog lovers: If you live alone and have an indoor dog, leave him a lot more water than he needs. If you drop dead some evening, or are kidnapped by terrorists, or can't get home because of an earthquake, it might take a week before somebody shows up to rescue your pets. A healthy, well-fed dog can usually survive a week without food, but not so long without water.
The latex is gloves, its the adhesive used in fabric bandaids which triggers the allergies Dont post a google search (which BTW brings up NO results for what you want) post a quote and link. Pulse checks are no longer indicated in BLS (Basic life support) guidelines (ie first aid). If the Pt isn't breathing then start CPR. Personally I don't nessarly agree with this in all circumstances (for instance blue ringed octopus sting which paralysis the diaphragm and respiratory muscles but leaves the heart unaffected) but that's the guidelines. There is no mention of acidosis appearing POST mild hypoxia in your link "cough CPR" has never been proven to work outside of hospital but if it happens sure give it a try, your dead anyway so its not going to make any difference. Some corrections to your intrepritation of CPR though, there is residual air in the lungs and the transfer of gasses is passive so you are still getting oxygenation of the blood as it passes the lungs. Its not residual O2 you want, its that actually being transferred across the alveolus. Also its not a slow rate you are aiming for either. The current guidelines for CPR worldwide are 30 compressions then 2 breaths at a rate of 100 compressions per min. The hearts intrinsic rythum is 60-100 beats per min at the SA node. Also CPR theory currently believes that you are not actually pumping the heart (or if you are this is at max around 20% of the pressure). You are actually creating a pressure differential in the thoracic cavity which is causing blood to be forced out and then when you relace negative pressure causes blood to be drawn up into the thoracic cavity. This works because the body has alot of 1 way valves (in all the veins, in the heart). Why does this matter? because it changes the importance of hand positioning, rather than needing to be over the heart and having to spend the time positioning your hands exactly, you only need to be roughly in the centre of the chest to be effective. Lastly get in and have a go, the person is dead so you cant do any damage, you can only improve there situation. Oh one other thing, dont expect the pt to get up and walk away. CPR is NOT a treatment. Its a delaying tactic, you are maintaining blood flow to the heart and brain (time is myocardium) until treatment can be administered. That treatment will fall into 2 groups, defribulation which you yourself may administer if you are in an area (like a shopping center, airport, sports stadium) with a public access defribulator (PAD). The state government here paid alot of money to have them put in all sorts of places and St John Australia has an Iphone app which as well as giving first aid advice and going through CPR will hone in on the nearest PAD by GPS. The second treatment is drugs and fluids, such as adrenalin, amiodarone, atropine, bicarb ect and Normal Saline infusions. These are adminstered mostly by Paramedics and hospital staff. The absolute first thing you must do when someone is unconscious is call 000 (or equivilant including 112 which i believe is world wide). I have herd many stories of people by themselves doing CPR for up to half an hour and wondering why no ambulance has arrived and its because they were in such a rush to get in and do CPR they forgot to call the ambos. Even if you dont remember how to do CPR when you call the ambulance they will go through it with you over the phone and remember you cant do any harm because they are already dead
If you have a moderately serious wound you have to clean out, peeing on it often works. It's relatively sterile in healthy people and mildly antiseptic.
Here’s the google results for latex-free fabric bandages. So, if I find you unconscious and breathing, I don't check for a pulse, right?
:wallbang::wallbang::wallbang: lets try again: Latex is an issue for GLOVES an allergy to the ADHESIVE is an issue with fabric bandaids No, you dont. Is there Danger to you, public and then patient? Is there any response? Send for help (call 000) check the pts airway, turn into recovery position and clear if needed Check for breathing, if breathing place in recovery position and montor till the ambulance arives If not breathing start CPR, 30:2 http://www.resus.org.au/public/arc_basic_life_support.pdf
