In an emergency, the minutes before a patient reaches hospital often decide the outcome. These are skills worth knowing before you need them — and a few widely used home remedies worth abandoning.

First aid does not replace medical care. Its purpose is to keep someone stable and prevent further harm while you get them to us.

Choking

If the person can cough forcefully, encourage them to keep coughing — coughing is more effective than anything you can do. Act when they cannot cough, speak or breathe.

For an adult or older child

  1. Lean them forward and give five firm back blows between the shoulder blades with the heel of your hand.
  2. If that fails, stand behind them, place a fist just above the navel, grasp it with your other hand and give five sharp inward and upward thrusts.
  3. Alternate five back blows and five thrusts until the object clears or they become unresponsive.

For a baby under one year

Do not use abdominal thrusts. Lay the baby face down along your forearm with the head lower than the chest, supporting the jaw, and give five back blows between the shoulder blades. Then turn the baby face up and give five chest thrusts using two fingers on the breastbone. Alternate, and get to hospital urgently.

Never do this

Do not push your fingers blindly into the mouth to search for an object — you are likely to push it further down. Remove an object only if you can see it clearly and can hook it out safely.

Burns and scalds

Burns from hot oil, boiling water, stoves and generators are among the injuries we see most often, and they are frequently made worse before arrival.

  1. Remove the person from the source of heat safely.
  2. Cool the burn under gently running cool water for at least twenty minutes. This genuinely limits how deep the burn becomes, and is worth doing even some minutes after the injury.
  3. Remove rings, bangles and tight clothing near the burn before swelling starts, unless fabric is stuck to the skin.
  4. Cover loosely with a clean, non-fluffy cloth or cling film.
  5. Keep the person warm overall, since prolonged cooling of a large area can drop body temperature.

Do not apply these to a burn

Toothpaste, palm oil, butter, engine oil, kerosene, ice, egg, or ash. They trap heat, introduce infection, and make the burn harder to assess and clean. Water is the correct treatment. Do not burst blisters.

Bring the patient in for any burn that is larger than the palm of their hand, is on the face, hands, feet, genitals or over a joint, looks white or charred, or affects a child or an older adult.

Severe bleeding

  1. Press firmly and directly on the wound with a clean cloth or dressing, using your palm.
  2. Keep pressing. Do not lift the cloth to check — that disturbs clotting. If blood soaks through, add another layer on top.
  3. Raise the injured limb above the level of the heart if you can do so without causing pain.
  4. Lay the person down and keep them warm.
  5. Get them to hospital.

Do not apply a tourniquet unless bleeding is catastrophic and cannot be controlled by pressure. If you must, note the time it was applied and tell the medical team.

Fainting

Lay the person flat and raise their legs slightly. Loosen tight clothing and give them air. Most people recover within a minute or two; let them sit up slowly. Seek care if they do not come round quickly, if they were injured in the fall, if they are pregnant, or if fainting keeps happening.

Convulsions

A seizure looks frightening, and the instinct to restrain the person is strong. Resist it.

  • Move furniture and hard objects away, and cushion the head.
  • Do not hold the person down and do not force anything into the mouth. A person having a seizure cannot swallow their tongue, and objects placed in the mouth break teeth and block the airway.
  • Once the movements stop, turn them onto their side into the recovery position so saliva drains and the airway stays clear.
  • Stay with them until they are fully alert, and note how long the seizure lasted.

Come to hospital immediately for a first-ever seizure, a seizure lasting more than five minutes, repeated seizures without full recovery in between, a seizure in pregnancy, or one following a head injury.

Keep a first aid kit at home

A basic kit costs little: clean gauze and bandages, plasters, adhesive tape, scissors, disposable gloves, antiseptic solution, a thermometer, oral rehydration salts, and paracetamol. Keep it where everyone can find it, and check the contents every few months.

For any emergency, call +234 803 355 3087 or come directly to 51 Iro Street, Odo-Ado, Ado-Ekiti. We are open twenty-four hours a day.

A note on this article. This information is general health education and does not replace a consultation. Every patient is different, and advice that suits one person may not suit another. Please speak to a doctor or nurse at Fountain of Hope Hospital before acting on anything you read here, especially if you are pregnant, managing a long-term condition, or taking regular medication.

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