Child safety and first aid training content record

70% of accidental injuries to children can be completely avoided through pre-emptive prevention, and the remaining 30% require standardized pre-hospital treatment within the golden 4 minutes. The differences in pre-hospital treatment operations between different academic schools need to be flexibly selected based on actual scenarios. Simply copying standardized procedures will not be effective.

As the assistant lecturer of this training, I followed the entire 2-day theory + practical course. I first picked out the content that everyone was most concerned about and the most frequently asked questions on the spot. After all, many people came with the mentality of "learning two life-saving tricks" before coming. At first, they couldn't sit still and listened to the prevention content, until Director Li of the Municipal Emergency Center showed a video of a case he received last year, and the whole place fell silent.

That case was a 2-year-old boy. His grandma made him laugh while feeding him jelly. A mouthful of jelly got stuck in his trachea. The grandma panicked and slapped him hard on the back. By the time 120 was delivered, 22 minutes had passed. The boy eventually suffered irreversible brain damage due to long-term hypoxia. “I felt extremely uncomfortable when I received this diagnosis. If parents had known better, they would have either not fed jelly to such a young child at all, or used the right method after getting stuck. This child would not be like this at all." Director Li's voice became hoarse when he said this.

When it comes to dealing with foreign objects stuck in the throat, there are simulators of different ages placed on site. During the practice, I discovered that it is really easy to make mistakes in the Heimlich maneuver that I have read a hundred times online. Oh, by the way, regarding this operation guideline, the differences between different schools are actually quite large: the American Heart Association AHA guideline requires infants under 1 year old to take 5 back pats + 5 chest compressions alternately, and abdominal shocks are completely prohibited to avoid damaging the tender internal organs. ； However, some experts in the field of emergency medicine in China believe that if no foreign body is discharged after three rounds of back patting and chest compression, and the child is already turning purple, abdominal thrusts can be used appropriately without the deadlock standard. Both statements are supported by clinical data. The core is to save life first, and then consider possible injuries.

One mother asked on the spot, then whose advice should I listen to? Director Li's answer is very practical: You must first remember "no whole nuts, jelly, or grapes for children under 3 years old, and no running or jumping to make people laugh while eating." If you really need first aid, do whatever you can think of first. If you don't think of anything, just call 120. The operator will guide you remotely, which is more useful than trying to figure out the differences between genres.

Oh, by the way, the most controversial thing at the scene was actually the treatment of febrile seizures. Doctor Zhang from the Municipal Maternity and Child Care Department provided the latest guidelines: When a child has a convulsion, you must not put anything into the mouth, and do not pinch or shake the child. Just lay the child on a flat place, untie the collar, and send the child to the hospital after the convulsion has passed. The so-called "biting off the tongue" is actually very unlikely. Stuffing things can easily cause foreign objects to get stuck in the throat or damage teeth. But Dr. Wang from the township health center put forward a different opinion on the spot: Many parents at the grassroots level immediately panic when they see their child convulsing. If you don't let him stuff something, he can stuff his finger in, or find a chopstick to pry it out, which is more dangerous. In this case, it is better to put a clean gauze pad between the upper and lower teeth, which is better than causing a bigger problem. In fact, both of them are right, but the applicable scenarios are different, and there is no absolute right or wrong.

I have been doing child safety science popularization for three years. Before, I always wanted to give everyone the most standard process. However, this training has changed my mind: in an emergency, no one can go through the steps clearly like a theoretical test, and just remember the core principles. For example, in case of burns and scalds, everyone knows that you need to rinse with cold water for 15 minutes. However, if you are picnicking in the countryside and don’t have that much running water, you can roll ice mineral water through your clothes to cool down. Don’t stick to the standard of “must rinse for 15 minutes” and miss the best cooling time. There are also the common methods of applying toothpaste, soy sauce, and sesame oil that have been passed down before. Let’s make it clear: if you have a small superficial burn, just apply it. If you have blisters or even the skin turns white, don’t apply anything with color, which will affect the doctor’s judgment of the depth of the burn. Just cover it with clean gauze and send it to the hospital.

There was a very interesting thing during the on-site practice. There was a father who weighed 180 pounds. He performed chest compressions on a 3-year-old manikin. He pressed the manikin's chest with all his strength. Director Li laughed on the spot: "You are so strong. The child's ribs were broken before the foreign object came out. To perform compressions on the child, you only need to use the strength of your two fingers, and you don't need to use your strength to move the express." The whole audience burst into laughter, but everyone remembered the strength requirements for children's compressions.

Oh, by the way, don’t think that accidental injuries are far away from your home. We have collected the emergency data of the city’s children’s hospitals in 2023 on site: 42% of emergency visits for children aged 1-6 years old are accidental injuries. The top three are foreign objects stuck in the throat, injuries from falls, and burns. During the summer vacation, this number will increase by 30%. Most of them occur when parents think “just leave for two minutes and it will be fine.” Really, prevention is the cheapest first aid. I have heard this sentence no less than ten times in the past two days of training, and now I give it to everyone.

At the end of the training, we distributed portable first aid kits to everyone, as well as a palm-sized disposal card with the core operating principles printed on it for everyone to post on the refrigerator. During the assessment, the pass rate for practical exercises was only 62%. Many people said that it looked simple and they forgot about strength and steps as soon as they got started. So don’t really think that you will learn first aid after watching two short videos. If you have the opportunity to touch the simulator and practice it once, it will be more useful than watching the tutorial ten times.

By the way, if everyone wants an electronic version of the processing card, I can post it in the community group later as an extended benefit of this training.