Whoo hoo! I'm already more than half done with lifeguarding classes! It's hard to believe that I've already taken 17.5 hours of class. Now that I'm in the home stretch I have to do everything I can to make sure I pass. Speaking of passing...we have our first written test tomorrow! I'm a little bit worried because my instructor says that the Red Cross has a nasty habit of creating tests with lots of answers that sound right, but only one best answer. I really hate tests like that because simple mistakes will trip you up. The test is 40 questions long and you are allowed to miss 8 and still pass. I don't think I'll miss that many but I'm going to study hard either way.
That means that today in class we got our study guides for the test. It's the type of study guide that has the questions that you need to be able to answer, but you have to actually find the answers yourself. The main topic was CPR/AED for the professional rescuer and first aid. After we went over the stuff we needed to know for the test, we had a lesson about first aid because we hadn't discussed it yet.
First aid was actually pretty easy, but gross to learn about. Some of the pictures in the Red Cross manual, well, they just aren't pleasing to look at. We also learned how to tie a bandage around a victim arm in case of a cut or scrape and how to make a makeshift splint on a suspected broken bone. Like I said, pretty easy stuff. Here are a few things I learned about first aid.
- You generally shouldn't move a victim in order to treat them unless it is a life threatening situation or your location is making the problem worse.
- After doing the primary assessment of the scene you should decide whether EMS needs to be called or not.
- The secondary assessment is performed after you have performed the the primary assessment and determined that the victim is not in a life threatening situation.You should gather a brief medical history and perform a head to toe physical exam.
- the acronym SAMPLE is helpful to remember what information to gather in the secondary assessment. It stands for Signs and symptoms, Allergies, Medications, Pertinent past medical history, Last oral intake and Events leading up to the incident.
- Talk to the person calmly and explain what you plan to do to treat them. If the victim is a child, bend down on their level and use words that are easy to understand.
- Sudden Illnesses can happen to anyone, anywhere and be fatal. Some signs of a sudden illness are changes in level of consciousness (LOC), dizziness, nausea or vomiting, numbness, difficulty in speaking, loss of vision and changes in skin color.
- FAINTING- to deal with a victim who has fainted, make sure the victim is on a flat surface and loosen any tight clothing.
- SEIZURES- move nearby objects away from the victim to protect them, position the victim on their side to allow all fluids to drain. If the seizure occurs in the water, call EMS and swim out to the victim and support their head out of the water and wait until the seizure is over to move them.
- STROKE- use FAST to recognize any potential signs of a stroke. Face- weakness on one side of the face, Arm- weakness or numbness in one arm, Speech- slurred speech, Time- time to call the EMS
~Pictures to break up all the information!~
Abrasion
Laceration
And my personal favorite, the avulsion, is a bit too graphic to put on here and I can't find a good example of it anyways. (don't ever Google image avulsion, by the way)
We also learned about using gauze and pressure to treat a small to moderate cut and how to tie a makeshift sling on a suspected broken or sprained arm.
We also learned about using gauze and pressure to treat a small to moderate cut and how to tie a makeshift sling on a suspected broken or sprained arm.
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