UKH

I've decided that it would probably be a good idea to carry a small 1st aid kit in my climbing sack (well this probably would have been a good idea 10 years ago but better late than never). However, even though I've been on quite a few outdoor 1st aid courses over the years I struggle to remember some of the basics (especially so in stressful situations).  I thought it might be a good idea to include some instructional cards with basic trauma care, wound dressing, bandaging and CPR, I thought I could quite easily find such things online but could come up with much.  can anyone recommend some resources or has anyone got/used such things?

cheers

I used to have an app on my phone which had basic instructions for a few different medical scenarios. I think it was the Red Cross first aid one but can’t remember for sure - there’s probably loads that do the same thing though! If you wanted something on paper then easy enough to copy down

I've got the red cross and st John's apps, however they both seem to be along the lines of Dont panic! call 999 and wait. Which is fine for most work/urban situations but bugger all use in many climbing ones unfortunately. 

I have a LifeSystems First Aid kit which lives in my rucksack. Included in the kit is a remarkably full document covering a host of medical conditions which might be encountered in the outdoors, including those you list.

Fortunately, I've never had to refer to it, and the only items I've used from the kit have been painkillers and dressings. 

I bought a kit years ago which came with a handy 'how to pamphlet'. Can't seem to find it at the moment but I'll have another look later 

I have one from an REC course I think. 

Very useful.  Primary and Secondary Survey one side, and if you find a victim/casualty suffering from x, put them in this position etc on the other.

Have a look at the various CASCARDS out there - an old MREW one for example in their online magazine and adapt the idea to suit what you need maybe.  A cascard / record sheet which also acts as an aide memoir is a great thing to have in your 1st aid kit.

They're more about prompting you through the process than detailing exact techniques for anything, but odds are if the card prompts you what to do, you'll remember enough of how to do it.

You'll likely find a bunch of options for prompt cards you can purchase online, but it takes quite a bit of work to put good cheat sheets / cards together so I suspect you'll struggle for freebies.  A lot of 1st aid courses give them out as part of the course - maybe book a refresher course?

Cheers!

Stu

What I found when  I was testing people on first aid was that they had forgotten the DR ABC  primary survey and then secondary surveys - which are big things to forget.  Some of this was lack of refresher training and some of this was situational stress.

So, yes, guidance is really helpful in those situations - as long as you slow down and actually follow the process and the cards in the right order.

I made up a card that had the process on and helped you to record the right information... I just can't find the PDF for it now...  If it find it (ive just spent 5 minutes looking), i'll let you know.

Once you get to the stage of knowing what you are likely dealing with the apps that are out there are quite good, but they don;t get people to go through the initial processes.

I have a bandana-sized square of cloth with general first aid procedure printed on it. Seems like a pretty good idea, as it's the right size for a triangular bandage/wound-dressing. Just googled 'first aid bandana' and there are some similar hits but nothing looking anywhere near as good. 

Cheers, if you find it that would be great.

I'm sort of surprised such things don't seem to be readily available, perhaps it's a lot more complex then I'm imagining

I googled "army first aide memoire", and this came up:

https://bootcampmilitaryfitnessinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Bat...

Some of those are quite good, hopefully phosphorus burns arnt somthing I will have to deal with too often though!

Or under effective enemy fire...

I also had the BRC and St John's apps. Neither provided triage, which an app would be perfect for, guiding diagnosis & treatment. Instead, they were just like electronic books. Very much a missed opportunity, imho.

I dunno, some of the more urban crags can get a bit rough sometimes

I think the at Johns app is pretty good, the advice it gives it pretty basic but more than you could practically put in writing and carry around. 
 

I kind of think if someone is dead or dying the best thing you can do is phone 999 ASAP, at which point the person on the other end of the phone will hopefully give you some calm and appropriate advice, there’s a reason the first question they ask is ‘is the patient breathing?’ I think unless you regularly practice and update your skills things like military aid memoires and the like are not really helpful. 

I found that the ambulance service kept asking questions in a manner I couldn't answer: "has the casualty been having chest pains?" "I don't know, I've just found them in the street". This went on for a while, and they failed to switch into a questioning mode " can you ask the casualty if..." I should have translated this myself, but stress does odd things to your brain...

That's the app I was working on. It guided people through the process. The Challenge would have been to keep up with different protocols from different organisations.

I left academia before it went anywhere 

The trouble is that a lot of first aid is a balance  between what is expected to be encountered  training and equipment that's available.

The basics are often the same, but they'll be minor variations depending on what you have on you at the time.

E. G.

Lots of organisations will teach DRAB, others will teach DRSABC.

Some organisations teach tourniquet others won't. Some do celox style bandages... 

I did a first aid course a couple of years back and we were all given an aid memoire produced by a company called dah-di-dah publishing. Is surprisingly comprehensive for such a small guide, and the whole thing is built around flow charts. Permanently lives in my climbing pack. The youtube video on this page gives a good overview

https://marinestore.co.uk/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Co...

That's a shame. It wouldn't need to be that complex an expert system, I think. Not for emergency first aid. Ambulance services already use the same thing for their guided triage.

It was quite a basic finite state automata. I still have the prototype version, but I'm not sure about the proper version. 

I made my own cheat cards. They just have a series of basic headings starting with Life-threatening bleeding, Spinal Injury, Shock, Head/Brain Injuries, Heart Attack etc; finishing up with things like Teeth, Bites, Stings. Under each heading I just have basic notes about signs and symptoms, further symptoms that may manifest over time and what to do about them, along with things I might want to do differently depending on whether the casualty is conscious or not.

I managed to get everything I wanted on four sheets of A4 (with sensible sized text) which I then stuck back to back and laminated to make two double sided sheets. These fit neatly down the back of my rucksack's main compartment where they are easily accessible and they won't turn to mush if it's raining hard when I need them (which it will be of course!).

Most of the information on them came from "Outdoor First Aid" by Katherine Wills. I just worked right through the book (after having been on one of her courses) to make sure I didn't miss anything off.

Her website has a downloadable casualty report form which is useful for remembering what information needs collecting.

https://www.activefirstaid.co.uk/CasualtyReportForm.pdf

I printed some at A4 size, put a couple of folded ones in my first aid kit and laminated a couple of others to go with the cheat cards. The laminated ones can be written on with a Chinagraph pencil.

Free to download "flash cards"

https://www.firstaidforfree.com/first-aid-training-resources/first-aid-flas...

I've found the one I created. Its a aide memoire for the particular first aid bag our lifeguard club has. There is opportunity to reduce it based on what equipment you are likely to have, e.g. no O2, no tourniquet etc. 

It only really covers one casualty (no triage) and is more of a recording tool and guiding tool for the primary and secondary surveys and a handover to other services. 

https://www.transfernow.net/dl/20220608nwvaH9GN

Well when I've done outdoor first aid courses a lot of it has been put the casualty in the recovery position, make sure they're warm, leave to find signal. So really the same thing but with extra steps.