Physical Education

First Aid

First Aid – Meaning and Aims
First aid is the emergency care and treatment of a sick or injured person before professional medical services are obtained. FIRST AID MEASURES ARE NOT MEANT TO REPLACE PROPER MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT, but will only consist of providing temporary support until professional medical assistance is available. The purposes of first aid are (1) to save life, (2) prevent further injury, and (3) to minimize or prevent infection.
The key aims of first aid can be summarized in three key points

• Preserve life - the overriding aim of all medical care, including first aid, is to save lives
• Prevent further harm - also sometimes called prevent the condition from worsening, this covers both external factors, such as moving a patient away from any cause of harm, and applying first aid techniques to prevent worsening of the condition, such as applying pressure to stop a bleed becoming dangerous.
• Promote recovery - first aid also involves trying to start the recovery process from the illness or injury, and in some cases might involve completing a treatment, such as in the case of applying a plaster to a small wound.