Words Used in This Book

Automated external defibrillator: a portable machine that checks the heart's rhythm through pads stuck on the bare chest and, if it is needed, gives an electric shock to help the heart return to a normal rhythm. It speaks clear instructions so that anyone can use it, and a first aid course lets you practise with a training machine.

Care plan: the written plan for each person you support, describing their needs, their health, their wishes and what to do in an emergency. Follow it together with your workplace's emergency procedures.

Choking: a blockage of the airway, often by food. In mild choking the person can still cough, speak and breathe; in severe choking they cannot, and they need help at once.

CPR: cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the chest compressions, with or without rescue breaths, given to a person who does not respond and is not breathing normally, to keep blood and oxygen moving until professional help takes over.

Emergency number: the telephone number you call for an ambulance, the fire service or the police. It is different in different countries, so learn it from official information for the country where you work and for any country you travel to.

First aid: the help given to a person who is injured or suddenly ill before professional help arrives, to keep the person safe and to stop things from getting worse.

Heat exhaustion: an illness caused by heat and by the loss of water and salts through sweating, with heavy sweating, weakness, dizziness, headache or nausea. Without quick cooling and rest, it can turn into heatstroke.

Heatstroke: a life-threatening emergency in which the body becomes too hot to cool itself, usually with a body temperature of about 40 °C (104 °F) or higher together with changes in behaviour or consciousness, such as confusion or collapse. Call the emergency number at once and cool the person fast.

Hypothermia: a dangerous fall in body temperature that happens when the body loses heat faster than it can make it. Older people can become too cold even indoors.

Recovery position: a steady position on the side for a person who does not respond but is breathing normally. It keeps the airway open and lets fluids drain from the mouth.

Rescue breaths: breaths given into a person's mouth during CPR by someone who has been trained to give them, in a pattern of 30 compressions and 2 breaths.

Seizure: a sudden burst of electrical activity in the brain that can cause shaking, stiffness or a loss of awareness. Protect the person from injury and never put anything in their mouth.

Shock: a life-threatening condition in which not enough blood reaches the body's organs, for example after severe bleeding or a serious burn. Signs include pale, cold and clammy skin, fast breathing, weakness and confusion.

Stroke: a sudden problem with the blood supply to part of the brain, when a blood vessel is blocked or bleeds. Signs include one side of the face drooping, weakness in one arm or leg, slurred or confused speech, and sudden trouble seeing or walking; call the emergency number at once.

Where to Learn More

A practical first aid course is the best place to learn more. In a course, a trainer shows you each step, watches you practise and answers your questions, and you practise CPR on a training manikin and use a training defibrillator. Many organisations that teach first aid offer courses for people who work in care, and some include sessions on helping older people, on heat illness and on safety at the roadside.

Skills fade without practice, and methods change from time to time, so plan refresher courses as your course or your workplace advises. Your workplace's own training matters just as much: it teaches the emergency procedures, the reporting routes, the equipment and the safe ways of moving and lifting people that apply where you work. Ask your supervisor what training is available and when it next takes place.

Official information from the authorities where you work tells you the emergency number to call and how the emergency services work there. Check it when you start a new job and before you travel with a person you support to another country. Official information also explains whether there are other ways to contact the emergency services, such as by text message, for people who cannot speak on the phone.

Public first aid guidelines are written by expert organisations and published for everyone. Many organisations that teach first aid also share short guides and videos based on them. Reading them from time to time, together with your course and your workplace's training, keeps your knowledge up to date.

About the Information in This Book

The knowledge in this book follows the general content of first aid courses as they are taught today, and the public first aid guidelines on which those courses are based, such as those of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. The moments at the start of each chapter show situations that many care workers meet in their work.

First aid guidelines are reviewed by experts and updated from time to time as knowledge grows. The first aid courses and the official information where you live give you the current methods, and your workplace's procedures and the care plan of each person you support show you how to apply them in your work.

A practical course makes these steps your own. When you have practised them with your hands, guided by a trainer, they will come back to you quickly and clearly in the moment when someone needs your help.