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International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
ResearchGate Impact Factor (2018): 0.28 | SJIF (2018): 7.426
Volume 8 Issue 8, August 2019
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
First Aid: ABC, Recovery Position and CPR
Shivangi Garima
Researcher, Dr D.Y. Patil School of Medicine. Navi Mumbai 400706. India
Abstract: First Aid is vital for saving lives. A person can carry out first aid after a life threatening incident or injury before the arrival
of medical help.This article gives an overview of how to carry out first aid , why it is important and the role of ABCs , recovery position
and CPR in saving lives
Keywords: First Aid, ABC, CPR, Recovery Position, Airway, Breathing, Circulation
1. Introduction
First aid is the assistance given to any person suffering a
sudden illness or injury with care provided to preserve life ,
prevent the condition from worsening and/or promote
recovery . It includes initial intervention in a serious
condition prior to professional medical help being available.
According to national first aid science advisory board , first
aid should be learned by every person for which it is
necessary that first aid training and education should be
provided to everyone and should be made compulsoryin
curriculum at schools. However first aid doesn’t necessarily
require any particular equipment or prior knowledge and can
help improvisation with materials available at the time ,
often by untrained people. The term usually refers to
administering care to a human , although it can also be
performed on animals.
2. Aim
a) To preserve life
This is the main aim of first aid
b) To prevent the condition from worsening
It is very important to keep the person who has undergone
the injury or an accident stable. His/Her condition must not
deteriorate before medical help arrives. This includes
moving the individual away from harm , applying first aid
techniques and many more.
c) To Promote recovery
Steps must be taken to enhance the chances of recovery
including application of a bandage to a wound
3. Skills
Certain skills are considered essential to the provision of
first aid and are taught ubiquitously. Particularly the ABCs
of first aid, which focus on critical life saving intervention,
must be rendered before treatment of less serious injuries.
ABC stands for airway, breathing and circulation. The same
mnemonic is used by all emergency health professionals.
Some organisations add a fourth step of “D” for “Deadly
bleeding or defibrillation” while many others consider this to
be a part of circulation step.
a) Airway
It should be made sure that the airway is clear. Choking,
which results from obstruction of airway can be fatal. Have
the injured person lying on their back, and then place one
hand on the forehead and two fingers from other hand on the
chin. Gently tilt the head back while slightly raising the chin
upwards. Any obstruction must be removed from the mouth,
including dentures. If you think they could have a spinal
injury , you must try to keep their neck as still as possible.
Instead of tilting their neck, use JAW THRUST technique :
Place your hands on either side of their face and with your
fingertips gently lift the jaw to open the airway avoiding any
movement of the neck.
b) Breathing
Once the airways are confirmed to be clear, determine
whether the person can breathe , and if necessary , provide
rescue breathing. The first aider should examine the chest
for movement and mouth for signs of breathing. Afterwards,
get close to the person to see if air can be felt on the cheek
from breathing.
c) Circulation
If the person is not breathing, the first aider should go
straight for chest compression and rescue breathing. The
chest compression promotes circulation and saves time. First
aider can check pulse if it is not a life threatening
emergency. Evaluating and maintaining ABC with a patient
depends on training and experience of a first aider. The ABC
process must be carried out in that order. However, there are
times when a first aider might be performing two steps at the
same time. This might be the case when providing rescue
breathing and chest compression together to a person who is
not breathing and has no pulse.
However, it is important to use a primary survey to make
sure that scene is clear of threats before stepping in to help.
a) Check for dangers to injured person and yourself. Stand
clear and call for professional help if there are threats.
b) Check if the patient is conscious and alert. Ask questions
to look for response. Also, it is important to judge
whether they respond to touch or are aware of their pain.
c) Check for airway patency and perform steps to clear any
obstruction as discussed earlier.
d) Check if the person is breathing effectively.
The first aider then needs to carry out a secondary survey,
checking for deformities, open wounds, swelling, capillary
refill (Normal=2-3seconds) and pink colour of inner lower
Paper ID: ART2020165
10.21275/ART2020165
109
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
ResearchGate Impact Factor (2018): 0.28 | SJIF (2018): 7.426
Volume 8 Issue 8, August 2019
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
lip. As soon as this has been completed, the person should
be placed in recovery position and an ambulance should be
called for.
Recovery Position
Even if the individual is breathing but is unconscious, there
is still a significant risk of airway obstruction. The recovery
position reduces that risk in the patient. A first aider should
do the following :
a) Kneel down next to the person on the floor. Place their
arm nearest to you at right angles to their body with their
palm facing upwards.
b) Take their other arm and place it across their chest so the
back of their hand is against their cheek nearest to you
and hold it there.
c) With your other hand, lift their far knee and pull it up
until their foot is flat on the floor.
d) Carefully pull on their bent knee and roll them towards
you. Once you have done this, the top arm should be
supporting the head and the bent leg should be on the
floor.
REMEMBER that until help arrives, you must keep
checking that they are breathing. If they stop breathing, get
ready to give them CPR.
Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
“When the cardiac arrest occurs outside of a hospital setting,
the survival rate ranges from 2% to 15%” , says Dr Kei
Ouchi , an emergency physician at Harvard affiliated
Brigham and women’s hospital. This grim reality has lead to
a need to learn a simple, potentially life saving skill to help
someone in cardiac arrest: cardio-pulmonary resuscitation
(CPR) known as bystander or hands-only CPR. The AHA
says when a bystander promptly performs CPR, it doubles or
triples the survival rate.
CPR consists of the use of chest compression and artificial
ventilation to maintain circulatory flow and oxygenation.
Traditional CPR involves chest compression and mouth-to-
mouth breathing whereas bystander CPR consists of only the
chest compression. They are both important but when
cardiac arrest occurs, there is already some oxygen left in
the blood which must be pumped to the brain than spending
extra time to give the patient more oxygen. Once you have
called for medical emergency, you can begin CPR.
1) If you are not trained in CPR then provide hands-
only CPR that is uninterrupted chest compressions of
100-120 per minute till help arrives. Following are the
steps:
a) Kneel next to the person’s chest.
b) Place the heel of one hand over the other in the middle of
the chest and interlace the fingers.
c) Extend your arms completely with elbows straight.
d) Push down hard at right angle about 1.5-2 inches deep
and after the push, completely release the pressure. That
is one compression.
e) Aim for 100 or more compressions per minute.
2) If you are well trained and confident, begin CPR with
30 chest compressions before giving 2 rescue breaths.
Following are the steps
a) Apply 30 chest compressions following the steps for
chest compression as mentioned above.
b) Provide two rescue breaths as follows:
Make sure the airway is open and pinch the nose so
that it closes properly.
Gently raise the chin upwards with two fingers of your
other hand.
Take a deep breath, seal your mouth over that of the
injured person and exhale into the airway.
You should look for the chest rise and fall.
Repeat 30 chest compressions followed by 2 breaths
for about 5 times and then check for normal breathing.
You might hear some pops and snaps during chest
compression. These are completely normal to occur so do
not stop.
4. Conclusion
Accidents will always happen. Therefore it is essential that
wherever your location or working environment is, you must
understand the importance of first aid in order to ensure
maximum safety of the person involved. First aid doesn’t
just help with recovery; it helps save lives.
References
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_aid
[2] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153849.php
[3] https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/the-
importance-of-bystander-cpr
[4] https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-
cpr/basics/ART-20056600?p=1
Author Profile
Shivangi Garima received MBBS degree from Dr.
D.Y. Patil School Of Medicine in 2019. From 2013-
2018, she studied as a medical student and completed
rotatory internship on February 2019. Also, she has
successfully completed a course in Emergency First
Aid including CPR and AED on April 21st 2019 by First Aid
International and owns a certification card for the same.
Paper ID: ART2020165
10.21275/ART2020165
110
