First aid is the emergency care a sick or injured person gets. In some cases, it’s the only care a person needs. It can also be a way to help them until paramedics arrive or they are taken to the hospital.
The best way to prepare for these events is to get official first aid training. In the meantime, there are some basic life-saving steps that you can learn.
This article will go over the steps of first aid for different emergencies. It will also give examples of first aid and the signs that more care is needed.
ABCs of First Aid
If someone is unconscious or unresponsive, the basic principle of first aid that you need to know is ABC: airway, breathing, and circulation.
- Airway: If someone’s not breathing, the first thing you need to do is clear their airway.
- Breathing: If you have cleared a person’s airway but they’re still not breathing, provide rescue breathing.
- Circulation: As you are doing rescue breathing, perform chest compressions to keep the person’s blood circulating. If the person is breathing but is not responsive, check their pulse. If their heart has stopped, provide chest compressions.
A simpler version of the ABCs is:
- Awake? If the person is not awake, try to wake them. If they don’t wake up, make sure someone is calling 911 and move on to the next step.
- Breathing? If a person is not awake and not breathing, start rescue breathing and chest compressions. Then, move to the next step.
- Continue care: When you call for help, follow instructions from 911 or continue treatment until an ambulance arrives.
Some first aid courses also include D and E:
- D can stand for: Disability assessment, deadly bleeding, or automated external defibrillator(AED). An AED is a device that shocks the heart to make it start beating again.1
- E can stand for: Examination (checking the person for signs of injury, bleeding, allergies, or other problems once you know they’re breathing and their heart is beating).
