Monthly Archives: February 2016

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Wound Care – Part 2 “Cuts & Scrapes”

 For our second part of Wound Care lets focus on one of the most common injuries we sustain on a daily basis, whether it be from a paper cut, road rash or even snipping with a bread knife wounds happen almost every day. Lets look at how we can help someone with a cut “a wound where the skin has been split open or torn away with either jagged or smooth edges“, or a scrape “a wound where the skin has been rubbed or scraped away“.

Common Causes:

  • Dull knives or improper safety technique during cutting
  • Falling or impacting on an abrasive surface
  • Contact with dull, abrasive or sharp object with force enough to rub or scrape the skin away.

What to Look for: 

  • Skin pealed away
  • Bleeding
  • Pain & Tenderness
  • Raised or swollen area with potentially broken skin

How to Help:

  1. Check the area, once the area is safe, Check the person and ensure the persons ABC’s are present “Airway / Breathing / Circulation“
  2.  Call 911 if you suspect the injuries could be severe.
  3.  Care for the scrape or cut by: -*REMEMBER* Put your gloves on if there is bodily fluids.
  • Wash the wound with soap & clean cool water. 
  • If possible rinse the wound with cool clean running water for up to five minutes to help reduce infection & bleeding. Once the wound is clean and if bleeding persists apply “Direct Pressure” on the wound until the bleeding stops, if the blood soaks through the dressing ADD more dressings on top
  • Do not remove blood soaked bandages as they are already assisting in clotting the wound. If bleeding persists seek further medical attention. 
  • Antibiotic ointments or creams may be applied once the bleeding has stopped. Follow the directions recommended by a pharmacists and check the “5 Rights of Medications“ **Always ask the person if they have allergies or sensitivity to antibiotics such as penicillin, if so “Do NOT apply the ointment**
  • Cover the wound with a non-stick sterile dressing if available or bandage.

If there is substantial amount of dirt or contaminant’s within the wound, the injured person should seek further medical attention to avoid the risk of infection.


Stitches:

  • Any wound that needs “Stitches” should be assessed and stitched by a trained medical professional as soon as possible “Golden Hour Rule” wounds should be assessed and stitched within an hour if possible to avoid complications, stitches help speed healing, reduce chance of infection and leave a less noticeable scar.

A wound may need to be stitched if:

  • The wound is more than 2 1/2 cm or 1inch long
  • Edges of the wound do not fall together
  • The wound is near a joint or on the hands or feet
  • The wound is on the face

In any emergency just remember to Protect Yourself!!! Call 911!!! Don’t Waste Time!!!


Swoop into First Aid and give a breath of Life, let first aid training in Edmonton be your Saving Grace.


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First Aid Techniques

Wound Care – Part 1 “Bruises”

Cuts, nicks, gashes, bashes, bruises and burns are very common injuries and there are many ways that they can happen. For this post lets focus on the basics of how to treat both minor and major wounds, we’ll provide simple steps to help guide you through treating most wounds that can happen in every day life. To begin lets go through some basic terms that you can run into like dressings or bandages and some some strait forward prevention ideas to help avoid injuries.

Dressings or Bandages
Dressings are pads or any material you can place on an open wound to help absorb blood and other bodily fluids to help prevent infection as well as build clots. Bandages are materials you can use to secure, wrap or cover a dressing. Combined they are used to control bleeding, apply pressure, provide support and to protect a wound from dirt or infection. Never remove a blood soaked bandage, always add more to boost the bloods ability to create clots, dressings in contact with the would should remain in place until further medical care arrives or is needed.

How Tight should a Bandage be?
Bandages put on too tightly have the potential to “Stop Blood Flow” this is a negative outcome and should be avoided as the limb below the bandage may become cold, numb or begin to turn blur or paler than normal “If this happens loosen the bandage”. “Apply Even Moderate Pressure” that does not prevent circulation. “Never apply a tourniquet without proper knowledge, training and guidance”

Prevention of Injuries Include:

  • Developing safe play habits with both adults and children to prevent injuries “ie: running with sharp objects“
  • PPE or Personal Protective Equipment such as helmets, knee pads, elbow pads and eye protection should be used when called for during sports activities such as skateboarding, biking, skating etc..
  • Follow safety procedures at work or play.

Bruises & How to help:
Bruises are a discolored area of the skin that is created when blood and other fluids seep into nearby tissues. Most commonly caused by sudden impacts, blows or force against the tissue.
What bruises looks like:

  • Discolored tissue “purple, black, brown / yellow, red, or blue areas“
  • Swelling
  • Pain or tenderness

What to do:

  1. Check the area, once the area is safe, Check the person and ensure the persons ABC’s are present “Airway / Breathing / Circulation“
  2. Call 911 if you suspect the injuries could be severe.
  3. Care for the Bruise by:
  • Place a piece of cloth or fabric over the bruise
  • Cool the area to reduce pain, inflammation & swelling by placing an ice pack or cooling pad over the fabric covered bruise.
  • Continue to cool the wound for 20 of each hour for as long as needed to reduce pain. “Always keep the cloth between the ice and skin”

4) If the person experiences severe pain, cannot move the body part without pain, if you suspect internal bleeding or if the force causing the injury was enough to cause severe damage or bleeding “Call 911, get an AED, have the person rest & wait for medical aid”

In any emergency just remember to Protect Yourself!!! Call 911!!! Don’t Waste Time!!!

Swoop into First Aid and give a breath of Life, let first aid training in Edmonton be your Saving Grace.

‪#‎FirstAidTraningCourse‬ ‪#‎BasicLifeSupportBLSforHCP‬ ‪#‎H2SAliveCourse‬

First Aid Techniques

Things to Keep in Mind During CPR

In our previous posts “CPR & how to perform Parts 1 too 3” we described how to perform CPR “Cardio Pulminary Resuscitation” on all age groups, but what if the victim was “Pregnant? You had a broken arm? they begin to Vomit? Have a broken Jaw? or have a Stoma? We can’t prepare you for every outcome that you might encounter so we’ll do our best to help you with the big ones that we run into. Lets look at them one by one and give you options to help improve our chances of survival.


Vomiting:Vomiting can occur from just about anything, but most commonly during CPR its a build up of too much Air in the stomach, when the unconscious person vomits there is a risk that the vomit may enter the lungs, this is called “Aspiration“. To avoid Aspiration give breaths only until the chest starts to rise, once the chest rises stop.

What to Do:

  1. Turn the persons head & body together as one “H.A.IN.E.S Technique” onto the persons side.”Let the vomit drain out”
  2. Quickly wipe the persons mouth clean
  3. Roll the person onto their back once again and continue CPR

Mouth to Nose / Stoma Breathing:There are many reasons why you may not be able to seal your mouth well over the other persons mouth to give rescue breaths. Injured mouth or jaw, mouth shut too tight, your mouth is to small, or blood coming from their mouth, in any case there is a simple step to remedy the situation.

What to Do:

  1. Block the mouth to stop air from escaping & seal your mouth around the persons nose, give a breath to make the chest rise.
  2. If the victim has a “Stoma” it is the same technique but this time block “Both the Nose & Mouth” and give a breath through the Stoma

One Handed Compression’s: Some rescuers might be injured themselves “Broken arm / Wrist” or may have other medical conditions that prevent them from doing a proper two handed compression technique “Arthritis, lack of upper body strength” for these reasons you can still do CPR by using One hand.

What to Do:

  1. Place the heel of one hand in the middle of the persons chest
  2. Grasp the wrist of the hand on the chest or place your free hand behind your back
  3. Begin compression’s pushing Hard & Fast
  4. Keep your compression arm as strait as possible to keep position.

CPR for a Pregnant Woman: CPR for a pregnant woman is identical to any form of CPR with placing one or two hands in the center of the chest pushing hard & fast giving 30 compression’s & 2 breaths. If you have a soft object that you can place under the woman’s “Right Hip” Raise the hip about 3-4 inches or 7-10 cm’s, “Do Not interrupt CPR to find an object” just continue CPR as you normally would.
In any emergency just remember to Protect Yourself!!! Call 911!!! Don’t Waste Time!!!
Swoop into First Aid and give a breath of Life, let first aid training in Edmonton be your Saving Grace.


#FirstAidTraningCourse #BasicLifeSupportBLSforHCP #H2SAliveCourse