First aid

Abstract

The magnitude of the problem of the injuries which fall into the orbit of the discerning First Aid Doctor can be assessed only when one knows the horrifying figures of the dead in road and home accidents. There are over 15,000 people killed in Gt. Britain each year, slightly more than half occurring in the home. There are nearly half a million people injured on the road annually who require admission to hospital and these figures do not include the large number of people who receive serious injury in industry and in the home. Because of these horrific figures we are inundated with requests to drive slowly, not to drink and drive, and by various means the impression is given that accidents only occur on the road. There is no equivalent appeal for housewives to 'bath baby safely' or 'cook carefully in the kitchen' although statistics would confirm that the latter can be as dangerous a place as driving on the road. The initial advantage of training a layman in the science of first aid is that he tends to be more careful and accidents are consequently fewer in number and more quickly and efficiently treated. There are already two excellent road accident schemes in existence, one in Heidelberg which is probably the ideal method as it conveys the team in a mobile fully equipped theatre to the scene of the road crash. The second accident service, newly introduced is the caravan type of operating theatre which is stationed at all international motor race meetings. Recent accidents, shown in grim detail on television, have confirmed the necessity of such emergency aid 'in situ'. First Aid post graduate weekends should be held in specialised centres such as Birmingham where G.P.'s could fruitfully participate in courses which would rekindle the enthusiasm of their earlier years for surgical responsibility. The Ministry of Health should encourage such activities financially, in the national interest and equip the medical profession to be competent and ready so that each doctor has in his car, First Aid Kits similar to those carried by the road accident G.P.'s.