The four S of first aid

If I tell you that the outcome of every emergency situation is determined by four matters that all start with an S, would you be able to list, knowing that Speed is not included in the list?

Don't get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with acting immediately, and at high-speed, if an incident occurs. But when people are injured, it is important to act rationally in preference to acting immediately. The four S' that should therefore always be attended to first are as follows:

1. Safety of yourself
2. Safety of the situation
3. Safety of the area
4. Safety of the patient

If you wonder why these four S' are so important, you should consider the fifth S; the S for 'Space in the ambulance'. You don't want to be left unattended when injured while trying to provide first aid, only to find out that ambulance and emergency crews were dispatched to accommodate the number of injured people reported initially!

1. Safety of yourself

To ensure your own safety, you always should assess the situation first. Remaining calm, applying common sense and assessing the situation should be the basics especially as it is possible that the situation is such that you lack either the skills or equipment to act immediately. Especially in these cases it is important that you are able to communicate as much relevant information as possible to the operator who is taking the emergency call in order to ensure that all Services & Support will be dispatched immediately.

2. Safety of the situation

Only once you know for sure that your safety is no longer in jeopardy, should you start working on improving the safety of the situation. Establish the likelihood of danger returning first before you approach the injured person. There is nothing worse than becoming a victim yourself while trying to reach out to an injured. Only once you know for sure that you are safe, can you start move to the next stage. Should imminent danger still be present, communicate this to the patient, while you try to establish the safety of the area first.

3. Safety of the area

Management always prefer to move an injured person as quickly as possible as the presence of an injured person means loss of productivity and a negative image being conveyed to co-workers or visitors. But before doing so, it is important to establish if moving the patient will cause additional trauma, or worse, put the lives of the evacuating personnel at risk.

Make sure you mark the area clearly to warn other people about possible danger and the presence of injured people. If needs be, put barriers in place or seal off the area completely regardless of the preferences of management. They will certainly understand it is easier to talk about one incident resulting in people getting injured, rather than two incidents with multiple victims.

4. Safety of your patient

Only once you know for sure that you are no longer in danger, that the dangerous situation has died down and that the location has become safe can you move on to the next stage, i.e. Stabilize and Secure the patient. Establish if the patient is conscious and able to indicate how and where he or she is injured. As it is likely that the patient is stressed or upset it is important to calm him or her down. Especially when children are involved, it is important that a next of kin is contacted immediately.

Put all the S' of first aid in place to avoid the incident leading to another S: S for Scandal!