TL;DR: Common mistakes made while providing First Aid can be life-threatening. This guide will provide the top 5 most common mistakes and what to do to avoid them.
- Mistakes that hinder burn recovery
- Causing additional injury or death to someone with a spinal or cervical injury.
- Common mistakes that prevent you from getting severe bleeding under control.
- Misdiagnosing cardiac arrest.
- Not providing effective breaths during CPR or Rescue Breathing
When an accident or injury happens, it’s important to seek or provide immediate care. Quick treatment can save lives and lead to better outcomes, such as faster healing or reduced scarring. However, speed is only one part of the equation. It’s important that you give treatment correctly. All too often, people make mistakes when treating serious injuries, whether it be from moving too quickly, being underprepared, or following a dodgy home remedy they read somewhere. In this article, we’ll cover a few of the most common mistakes people make when giving first aid.
Using Ice or Home Remedies on Burns
While it might sound like a good idea to use ice to cool a serious burn, ice can actually worsen the injury. Putting ice on a burn is a common first aid mistake. For one thing, the cold can cause the victim’s blood vessels underneath the burn to narrow, slowing blood flow and depriving the tissue of the oxygen that it needs to heal. Additionally, ice can also increase the risk of the burn becoming infected and lead to increased scarring.
Some suggest applying butter or toothpaste on burns, but these are also harmful in their own ways. For example, butter is greasy, can trap heat, and spread bacteria that increase the risk of an infection. Not only that, but butter can be difficult to wash off, causing irritation on the damaged tissue. Similarly, toothpaste can also trap heat and bacteria. Your toothpaste may also contain ingredients that dry out the skin and cause further irritation.
What to do for burns:
If you want to properly treat a burn, run it under cool (but not cold) water for 10-20 minutes. Keep the wound clear of any jewelry or clothing, but do not try to remove clothing that has stuck to the burn until you can get proper medical attention.
Moving Someone with a Suspected Spinal Injury
Spinal injuries can occur as a result of falls, crashes, or similar accidents. It can be difficult to tell whether or not someone is suffering from a spinal injury at a glance. The signs of a spinal injury vary greatly and can include paralysis, numbness, pain in the back, and even loss of bowel control.
Improperly moving someone with a spinal injury can turn serious yet stable injuries into something much worse. This is because moving the already damaged spinal cord without knowing the extent of the injury can damage it further, leading to complications like nerve damage, paralysis, difficulty breathing, and even death as a result.
What to do if you suspect a spinal or cervical injury:
Call for help and leave moving the victim to the professionals. Do what you can to keep the victim still. If possible, keep their head in the position you found them in. The only reason to move them is if they are in immediate danger, such as a fire, or if CPR is required.
Prematurely Changing a Bandage on an Active Bleeding Injury
When someone is bleeding severely, it’s not uncommon to see blood soak completely through a bandage. You may think that a blood-soaked bandage is a good indication that the bandage needs to be fully replaced with a new, clean one. But this does more harm than good.
Removing a bandage from a severely bleeding wound can disrupt the healing process. You may take out or destroy the forming clot by removing the bandage, and you want to keep the wound compressed as long as it’s needed.
What to do if bleeding soaks through a bandage:
You should place a new bandage over the old one instead. In doing so, you keep the wound compressed without disrupting the existing clot. Not only that, but dressing over the first bandage can help to keep it in place. Just remember that your goal is slight compression; you don’t want to cut off circulation entirely. Keep an eye out for signs of poor circulation, such as numbness, fingers or toes that turn blue, or are slow to return to their normal color.
Checking for a Pulse Without Proper Training
If you suspect someone is undergoing cardiac arrest, you may think to check for signs of a pulse. After all, that’s what professional first responders do when they encounter someone who’s unresponsive. However, if you aren’t properly trained, it can be difficult to detect a pulse if you aren’t properly trained to do so. This is especially true in stressful life-or-death situations. You may just waste precious time by looking for a pulse.
How to check for circulation:
Instead, look for signs of circulation, or lack thereof. Check the victim’s breathing, if it has stopped or become unstable. Check for changes in color around the face and lips, as blue, pale or gray colors indicate a lack of circulation.
Not checking for Chest Rises during CPR
Remember to check for chest rising when performing ventilations during CPR. If the chest does not rise during ventilations, then the victim’s airway may be blocked. More importantly, oxygenated air is not being provided. This is a common mistake when providing CPR and first aid. The lack of oxygen can cause hypoxia, which can lead to permanent injury or death.
What to do if the chest doesn’t rise:
Assuming you’ve already checked for foreign objects, re-tilt the victim’s head to make sure the airway is clear of the tongue.
Learn to Save A Life
If you would like to learn more about what to do in an emergency, take one of our CPR/AED/First Aid Courses.