How to Give First Aid in Sudden Accidents (Shock and Bleeding)

If you fall on your knee and cut it badly, do you wash the deep wound with soap and water, then swab it with a sponge tinted with tincture of iodine, then bandage it? Or do you cover the wound with sterile gauze and hurry to the doctor?

If you enter one of the rooms of your house and find a member of your family lying on the floor unconscious, do you sit him up and try to pour some liquid down his throat, or do you stretch him out on the floor and protect him from the cold until the doctor comes?

If you come upon the owner of a car lying beneath his overturned automobile, do you try to drag him out from under the car, or do you hurry to summon help to lift it off him?

What you do at such a moment does not merely save the victim's life or destroy it: your own success hangs upon this act of yours. It is therefore essential that you make certain you know what must be done and what must not be done.

Do these things first

If you wish to attend to the victim of a motor accident, attend to it with precision and tact. If you know what you must do and do it well, sure of yourself, the onlookers will not interfere — for the common proverb says, 'Too many hands burn the food.' This proverb applies to the motor accident. If you feel there is any crowding, send one of the onlookers to fetch a doctor, and to tell the victim's family exactly where the accident took place.

First: study the condition of the injured person and the position he is in, the possibility of further harm coming to him, and the question of his exposure to cold and damp. Remember that what you are doing is only temporary, and the help you render him depends on keeping the sick person quiet and protected until medical help arrives. Do not raise his head; persuade him, if he comes to, not to raise his body; induce him not to move until the doctor has seen him. Do not let him move without a necessary reason.

If you have made certain that the person is suffering from shock and is not ill, examine him briefly for any bleeding, or a broken bone, or one of the signs of poisoning. If he is bleeding profusely, or one of his bones is broken, or he says he has been poisoned (or the look of his mouth makes you believe he has), or if he is burned, or if his breathing has stopped, you must attend to these things first. And if none of these signs appears, it is wise to assume that the case is one of shock only.

Immediate attention to shock

Most shock in acute injuries is caused by the various mishaps that befall a person; shock itself is the condition in which the organs of the human body, or its activity, are in a state of depression or despair. And these are the signs that can be observed. First, the person's extremities grow cold, the color of his body turns pale, and the eyes lose the light of life. Then weakness sets in in the sensitive organs. The pulse quickens or weakens, breathing grows faint or becomes irregular, and nausea and vomiting may follow.

Every one of us in this life is exposed to unexpected accidents that strike from time to time without his being able to avoid their occurrence. The following instructions must be carried out before the doctor comes, for this means the difference between saving a life and destroying it.

It is easier to relieve shock as far as possible at the outset than to treat it after the condition has grown worse. As for the causes of shock, they may lie in the failure of a sufficient quantity of blood to reach the brain and the heart. You must therefore stimulate the flow of blood to them. To perform this service, have the injured person lie down on a bed and cover him so that he stays warm. If he is lying in a cold place, try to slip a newspaper, a wool blanket, or some garment under him. Do your utmost not to disturb him more than is necessary. And cover him with covering enough to keep him warm, for that is what matters.

Do not try to pour any liquid down the throat of an unconscious person. If he is conscious, do not give him anything to drink if the doctor's coming is near; but if he is delayed some hours in coming, and the patient asks for water and insists upon it, it is well to give him a cup of coffee or tea as hot as he can bear, and let it be given with a spoon.

Shock appears at once from the harm that befalls a person, and fear makes it worse. Try your utmost to assure the suffering person that there is nothing to fear, and that nothing will happen if he waits patiently for the doctor's coming; and do not let him stare at the painful spot, for that increases the shock.

You must always assume infection

If a person's skin is wounded, cut, or torn, the entry of some germ into the wound is a certainty. The germ may produce a harmless discharge (or pus) on the surface of the wound; but when the pus spreads to beneath the skin, the germ can become harmful.

And although it is certain that some germs enter the wound, they nevertheless do not cause inflammation, and for two reasons. The first is that the blood flowing from the wound washes away some of the germs that have taken hold of it, and the healthy body has the strength to resist them. Your task is to make sure the wound is not soiled by any unclean matter, and you must stop the bleeding if it is heavy. But if you attempt to treat the wound yourself, you add further difficulty to the doctor's handling of it.

If the bleeding is not heavy

If the wound you are asked to attend to is bleeding freely, keep away from it every cloth that might touch it. Then cover the whole area of the wound with sterile gauze — and if no gauze is at hand, cover it with an ironed handkerchief — and simply bind it. Do not touch the wound with your finger, and do not let the wounded person touch it.

If the wound needs cleaning, it must be treated in a hospital, where all the necessary instruments are sterilized and at hand. And if you wish to help him, you must cover the wound with sterile gauze, the bandage being not tight but easy.

If the bleeding is heavy

If the wound is bleeding forcefully, you must first of all press directly upon the course of the blood, for severe bleeding is dangerous in proportion to the quantity lost. Remove the clothing from the wound so that you can see it fully. Keep away from it everything that might touch it; then cover it with a thick pad of sterile gauze, if any is at hand, or an ironed handkerchief, and press upon it firmly. Do not attempt to use an antiseptic or anything else — cover it and press. If the bleeding stops under the pressure of the hand, binding may be dispensed with until the doctor arrives.

When an artery is cut and the blood runs in a regular gush, pressure must be applied at the points near it. Even pressing

with the finger helps greatly to stop the blood from flowing. But if pressure on the site of the wound does not stop the flow of blood, then try to increase the pressure of the fingertip on the point nearest the bleeding, keeping up at the same time the pressure on the point near the artery. And if the bleeding still does not stop, then and only then should the twisted (knotted) band be tried. Remember that the use of the knotted band is dangerous, and it must be employed as the very last thing you resort to, when finger pressure does not bring the desired benefit.

Heed the following warnings: if the band cuts off the flow of blood for a long period, gangrene may set in. It must therefore be loosened completely fifteen minutes after it is tied.

And do not cover the knot with a dressing

When you press with the finger, you must place a pad of sterile gauze upon the wound while the knotted band remains in its place; this helps the blood to clot, and its flow to cease. And when the blood has stopped, a pad of sterile gauze is then used as an unbound dressing.

Bleeding from a vein is far easier than bleeding from an artery: it does not come in gushes, its outcome is safer, and it needs only slight pressure. If the arm is wounded and the hand is not broken, raising it higher than the body helps to lessen the bleeding.

As for the knotted band, it is simply a broad band with which the arm or the thigh is bound very tightly. A rope must never be used — rather a strip of rubber, a necktie, a stocking, or any other band three qirats or more in width.

First: wind the band twice around the arm and knot it; then place a slender rod above the knot (a long pencil may be used for this), then tie it again above the rod.

It also helps to place a wad of papers or dressings (never place a stone, either on the knot or under it); then twist the rod until the band grows tight. Beware of tightening the knot more than is needed to stop the bleeding — this is an essential thing to know.

Loosen the knot every fifteen minutes, but keep it upon the wound. If the bleeding returns as before and begins to gush, then count five or six gushes and tighten the knot again. But if the bleeding has stopped, leave off tightening the knot.