First Aid Techniques?

What first aid techniques should every person learn?

• Answer:

  There are really only 3 skills that your average, urban adult should have: The Heimlich Maneuver: if someone is choking, he will likely die before an ambulance arrives. Every adult should know how, and when (and when not) to do abdominal thrusts on an adult, a baby, and himself. CPR: While CPR has questionable efficacy at reviving someone, you greatly increase someone's chances of survival until he reaches a difibrilator (AED or an ambulance) if you properly perform CPR. The "new" CPR without mouth-to-mouth is incredibly simple, requires no equipment, and is just as effective as the old, scary CPR. Hands-on-stable: A very simple technique that involves stabilizing a patient's spinal column. Appropriate after any fall, car crash, or head injury, immobilizing a patient's head will greatly reduce the chance of paralysis from spinal cord injury.http://www.flickr.com/photos/leadersoftheday/4581656758/ Every college kid should also know one more: The recovery position: If someone is passed out, don't leave him alone on his back. Roll him onto his side, and bend an arm under his head and stick out his knee like a kickstand to keep him there. Jimi Hendrix might still be alive if his friends had known that trick. While I've posted relevant links, there really is no substitute for being trained by a professional on these skills. Go get first-aid training: the world will be a safer place for it.