Philip Swart Philip Swart

What To Put In Your Family Holiday First Aid Kit

Being on holiday with children provides a whole new opportunity for various bumps, cuts and scrapes to occur. When bringing the whole family abroad it is a good idea to have a fully stocked first aid kit with you that will allow you to tackle most situations.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

How does an AED work?

AED stands for Automated External Defibrillator. An AED is a device which delivers an electrical shock to victims of sudden cardiac arrest (where the heart has stopped beating). So how does an AED work?

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

How To Tell If a Finger Is Broken

Sustaining a finger injury can be painful and discomforting. If you leave it untreated, it can lead to severe issues, like decreased motor capacity, nerve damage, or deformity.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

The Aims of First Aid – The Three Ps

Whether you’re addressing an injury or performing CPR, the central aim of first aid is to save the life of the patient. This is why it’s integral to know about the three Ps of first aid training. By educating yourself about the aims of first aid, you can determine what to do as a first responder in emergency situations.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

Most Common Winter First Aid Injuries

During winter, it's important to be prepared for the unique risks and injuries that can occur during this time of year. From slips and falls to hypothermia, winter weather can pose a number of potential hazards that require immediate first aid attention.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

Splinting Upper Limb Fractures

The most common fractures are usually the ones sustained by the arm or wrist, most of the time because of falling, sometimes because of blunt force trauma.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

Can A First Aid Kit Expire? (And Why You Need To Check)

There are two aspects to providing first aid and medical assistance. The first is having the skills and knowledge to know how to help in an emergency. The other is having the resources you need to put those skills into effect.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

How To Treat a Fall Injury

It’s important to take the proper measures when a fall occurs. Depending on the severity of the fall, every movement and step is critical. To prevent a bad situation from becoming worse, here is a guide on how to treat a fall injury.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

Does OSHA Require A Fall Protection Rescue Plan?

You need a plan of action for your team to follow in the event of an emergency. A rapid rescue plan is essential for preventing secondary injuries and even death that can occur in a fall incident.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

Search and Rescue Emergency Care

After a major disaster, the need for search, rescue, and first aid is likely to be so great that organized relief services will be unable to meet more than a small fraction of the demand. Most immediate help will come from uninjured survivors, and they will have to provide whatever first aid they can.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

A First Aid Kit Is Not an IFAK

Although an IFAK is technically an Individual First Aid Kit, it should more appropriately be thought of as an Individual Trauma Kit. First Aid kits and First Aid courses, as commonly thought of, deal with topics more akin to band-aids than with tourniquets and life-threatening injuries.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

Tampons Don’t Work To Stop Massive Haemorrhage

With recent evidence, we are still surprised by how many people advocated for tactical tampons to control massive bleeding in a gunshot wound. “Depending on the bullet hole size, tampons and pads are your best bets…” Or, “A tampon would have done the same thing.” Not true!

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

International Travel’s Biggest Risks

While most travellers to the developing world and tropical destinations worry about exotic diseases like malaria, typhoid, and Zika, a traveller’s most significant infectious risk comes from traveller’s diarrhoea.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

Patient Carry: Non-Rigid Litters

Carrying people is hard work. Carrying them with a litter makes the task easier. Non-Rigid litters are lighter and easier to store than their rigid counterparts, but they are harder to use.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

Hypothermia Prevention In Trauma

Hypothermia prevention in trauma is a critical and often missed lifesaving piece of emergency medical training. Once a casualty’s massive haemorrhage is controlled, rescuers must turn their attention to the rest of the M-A-R-C-H pneumonic, specifically, to hypothermia prevention.

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