Treat any wound or burn and immobilise fractures. Loosen tight clothing around neck, chest and waist. Do not use any source of direct heat. Give small, frequent amounts of water to the conscious patient who does not have abdominal trauma and who is unlikely to require an operation in the immediate future. Monitor and record breathing, pulse and skin colour at regular intervals. Place the patient in the recovery position if the person: has difficulty breathing becomes unconscious is likely to vomit.
Where to get help For emergency or life-threatening conditions, visit an emergency department or dial triple zero to call an ambulance See your doctor Visit healthdirect external site or call Acknowledgements St John Ambulance Australia. Facebook Twitter Youtube.
If a person is unconscious but breathing, and has no other injuries that would stop them being moved, place them in the recovery position until help arrives. Keep them under observation to ensure they continue to breathe normally, and don't obstruct their airway. If a person isn't breathing normally after an incident, phone an ambulance and start CPR straight away.
Use hands-only CPR if you aren't trained to perform rescue breaths. Below, in alphabetical order, are some of the most common injuries that need emergency treatment in the UK and information about how to deal with them:. Anaphylaxis or anaphylactic shock is a severe allergic reaction that can occur after an insect sting or after eating certain foods.
The adverse reaction can be very fast, occurring within seconds or minutes of coming into contact with the substance the person is allergic to allergen. During anaphylactic shock, it may be difficult for the person to breathe, as their tongue and throat may swell, obstructing their airway.
Check if the person is carrying any medication. Some people who know they have severe allergies may carry an adrenaline self-injector, which is a type of pre-loaded syringe. You can either help the person administer their medication or, if you're trained to do so, give it to them yourself. After the injection, continue to look after the person until medical help arrives.
All casualties who have had an intramuscular or subcutaneous under the skin injection of adrenaline must be seen and medically checked by a healthcare professional as soon as possible after the injection has been given. Make sure they're comfortable and can breathe as best they can while waiting for medical help to arrive. If they're conscious, sitting upright is normally the best position for them. Read more about treating anaphylaxis.
If someone is bleeding heavily, the main aim is to prevent further blood loss and minimise the effects of shock see below. Check that there's nothing embedded in the wound. If there is, take care not to press down on the object. Instead, press firmly on either side of the object and build up padding around it before bandaging, to avoid putting pressure on the object itself.
If a body part, such as a finger, has been severed, place it in a plastic bag or wrap it in cling film and make sure it goes with the casualty to hospital. Read more about how to treat minor bleeding from cuts and grazes and how to treat nosebleeds. Haemostatic dressings contain properties that help the blood to clot thicken quicker. A tourniquet is a band that's wrapped tightly around a limb to stop blood loss. Haemostatic dressings and tourniquets should only be used by people who have been trained to apply them.
For chemical burns, wear protective gloves, remove any affected clothing, and rinse the burn with cool running water for at least 20 minutes to wash out the chemical. If possible, determine the cause of the injury. In certain situations where a chemical is regularly handled, a specific chemical antidote may be available to use.
Be careful not to contaminate and injure yourself with the chemical, and wear protective clothing if necessary. Read more about how to treat burns and scalds. If the airway is only partly blocked, the person will usually be able to speak, cry, cough or breathe. In situations like this, a person will usually be able to clear the blockage themselves.
Abdominal thrusts shouldn't be used on babies under one year old, pregnant women or obese people. The aim is to get the obstruction out with each chest thrust, rather than necessarily doing all five. If the obstruction doesn't clear after three cycles of back blows and chest thrusts, phone or to ask for an ambulance, and continue until help arrives.
The person choking should always be seen by a healthcare professional afterwards to check for any injuries or small pieces of the obstruction that remain. If someone is in difficulty in water, don't enter the water to help unless it's absolutely essential. Once the person is on land, if they're not breathing, open the airway and give five initial rescue breaths before starting CPR.
If you're alone, perform CPR for one minute before phoning for emergency help. Find out how to give CPR, including rescue breaths. If the person is unconscious but still breathing, put them into the recovery position with their head lower than their body and phone an ambulance immediately. Continue to observe the casualty to ensure they don't stop breathing or that their airway becomes obstructed. If someone has had an electric shock, switch off the electrical current at the mains to break the contact between the person and the electrical supply.
It can be difficult to tell if a person has a broken bone or a joint, as opposed to a simple muscular injury. If you're in any doubt, treat the injury as a broken bone. If the person is unconscious, has difficulty breathing or is bleeding severely, these must be dealt with first, by controlling the bleeding with direct pressure and performing CPR.
If the person is conscious, prevent any further pain or damage by keeping the fracture as still as possible until you get them safely to hospital. Assess the injury and decide whether the best way to get them to hospital is by ambulance or car. It's always best to get someone else to drive, so that you can deal with the casualty if they deteriorate — for example, if they lose consciousness as a result of the pain or start to vomit. Don't give the casualty anything to eat or drink, because they may need an anaesthetic numbing medication when they reach hospital.
A heart attack is one of the most common life-threatening heart conditions in the UK. If you think a person is having, or has had, a heart attack, sit them down and make them as comfortable as possible, and phone or for an ambulance. Symptoms of a heart attack include:. If they're conscious, reassure them and ask them to take a mg aspirin tablet to chew slowly unless you know they shouldn't take aspirin — for example, if they're under 16 or allergic to it.
If the person has any medication for angina , such as a spray or tablets, help them to take it. Monitor their vital signs, such as breathing, until help arrives. If the person deteriorates and becomes unconscious, open their airway, check their breathing and, if necessary, start CPR.
Re-alert the emergency services that the casualty is now in cardiac arrest. Poisoning is potentially life-threatening. Most cases of poisoning in the UK happen when a person has swallowed a toxic substance, such as bleach, taken an overdose of a prescription medication, or eaten wild plants and fungi.
Alcohol poisoning can cause similar symptoms. If you think someone has swallowed a poisonous substance, phone or to get immediate medical help and advice.
The effects of poisoning depend on the substance swallowed, but can include vomiting, loss of consciousness, pain or a burning sensation. Shock is the body's reaction to what? Which airway-management technique minimizes the movement of the head, neck, and spinal cord to prevent further injuries? After measuring, you decide that the nasopharyngeal airway is too long. What should you do? Why must you seal an open chest wound? How should you treat a casualty's eye injury?
Which of the following will not result in a traumatic brain injury? Traumatic brain injury may occur after which of the following events? What type of burn will cause both an entry and exit wound? What type of sources can result in burns? If an individual has an insect bite or sting, what can be used to reduce the chance of an infection and remove traces of venom? Which type of snake typically has oval-shaped heads and round eyes?
When treating a snake bite, what should you do with the affected limb to decrease the spread of venom? What factor s will determine the amount of fluid water necessary to maintain proper body function? During which heat emergency do you cool the casualty's ody by sprinkling him or her with water? How many fingers should you be able to slip under the emergency bandage after it has been applied? Which of the following are signs and symptoms of a poisonous-snake bite?
What type of fracture has bone protruding from the skin? Why are open fractures a serious medical condition? Muscle cramps and muscle spasms are symptoms of which heat emergency? What causes abnormally low body temperatures? What should be your first reaction upon being notified of a chemical attack?
If you are exposed to a nerve agent, how many ATNAA antidote auto-injections should you administer to yourself or to a casualty before seeking medical guidance? If more than one wound is found during a quick patient assessment, what should you do? In severe heat, how much water can a person lose each hour?
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