first aid - Teaching On Ice

The ski trip (see previous post) gave me a rare opportunity to practice my First Aid skills and learn from on-piste paramedics (ski patrol!) before Antarctica.

As teachers we had to backmark the groups who were having lessons. With the instructor at the front this meant that we were often left with the injured. Although I never came across anything more serious that a dislocated knee cap – and thankfully ski patrol were on hand to diagnose that one – I was still able to practice simple things.

Here are three tips for trips!

• Take a medical history. Not only where it hurts, but also:
  • What sort of pain is it?
  • On a scale of 1-10 how bad is the pain?
  • What makes the pain worse/better?
  • Have you experienced anything like this before? – this was the one the ski patrol who dealt with the dislocated knee didn’t ask. It would have saved a lot of time lying in the cold snow, as apparently the girl’s other knee does it regularly.
• Check for broken bones and dislocated knees
• Reassure the patient. There seem to be two aspects to this:
  • firstly give a probable/possible diagnosis so that there is less uncertainty as to what is wrong with them.
  • Secondly somehow, somewhere find the funny side.

The one thing that it is never going to be possible to practice, due to the excellent medical care nearly always close at hand, is:

Looking after a patient for days in basic conditions until evacuation is possible.

To prepare for this I’ve been on Wilderness Medical Training’s ‘Far from Help’ course. For any teachers going on World Challenge or similar activities I thoroughly recommend this two/three day training event.

Not only is it interesting and useful, but it really boosts your confidence. On a practical side it allows you to buy antibiotics and strong painkillers which you can administer outside of the UK, when you're far from help.

What are your views on First Aid? Is a little knowledge a dangerous thing? How much training is necessary for a theatre trip? … A ski trip? … A World Challenge? If you're a First Aider, how have you used your training?

Did you see the film Chocolat on TV over the weekend? If so, remember the bit where the Mayor gorges himself on chocolate in the shop window? That's how I'm feeling right now. After months of saving every penny, it is kit buying time! And, due to the generous sponsorship of my kit by Connells Estate Agents, I won’t have the feeling of guilt afterwards.

I’ve discovered that kit buying is an attitude rather than an admin exercise:

• Do I really need this, or will it just be extra weight to carry around? I'll be on the ice for four weeks but will only take one set of clothes with me.
• Is this item over-complicated? My rucksack will not have fancy adjustment systems and lots of pockets. The more features it has, the more there is to go wrong.
• Is this kit up to the job? No good having a metal spoon, it will freeze to my lips. No good having a plastic spoon, it will get brittle. Wood it is then, although if anyone can find me a suitable spoon they are doing better than me!
• What do I need to keep me alive? Is my knife good enough to cut ropes easily and free me from my sledge if I fall down a crevasse? Is my first aid kit able to support an injured person that could be days from rescue? Has this book got enough pages to stop me getting bored during storms that could last for a week?

The same four questions are worth being asked by the 1000s of participants in the Duke of Edinburgh Award preparing to walk at the moment. The answers won’t make the difference between life and death, but they will make the walk a lot more comfortable.

Bones poking through legs, guts on the outside, scratched retinas, rotten toes, dislocated elbows, lacerations, collapsed lungs, swelling brains, heart attacks, spinal injuries and diarrhoea occupied my weekend.

I wasn’t in an RTA, I didn’t take my bottom set Year 9 out and I wasn’t watching EastEnders. I was on a medical course for people who are going to be more than 24 hours from professional help. The course aimed to give us confidence that no matter what we’re faced with, we can deal with it. However, with the roll call of injuries sustained while on ‘expeditions’ it did make me wonder whether going through with this is the sensible option!

Talking of sanity, while walking through Hyde Park to the Royal Geographical Society in London, I saw a heron being mobbed by five green parrots. Anybody else seen parrots in Hyde Park, or is it just me?