...you’re walking along the road and come across an old man laying in the recovery position, apparently unconscious, with three people crouched around him. They are calling his name in an attempt to rouse him but are getting no response. One of them then says “It’s ok - he’s breathing”. There are lots of people around in the street. What would you would do - if anything, in this scenario?
Be honest.
Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
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2 - Ask if they need any help
3 - Ask if any of them have any medical training, and how long the ambulance will be
4 - Depending on the time of day and location, see if I can get the various bystanders to try to locate a doctor/nurse/paramedic in a nearby shop/pub/doctor's surgery/etc. It's better than standing around gawping.
Obviously, some of these things depend on the others.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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I have been ‘first on scene’ finding an old man slumped by the side of the road and did my best to check that he was okay and if he wanted help/ ambulance which he said he didn’t. No one else came over to us to offer help and I would have liked some reassurance. When there’s already two or three people there already I don’t know what I’d have to offer.
I have also had a fall and been lying prostrate on the pavement. I don’t think there were any pedestrians passing by whilst I was down there but there were definitely cars and no one stopped to check.
I'd at least ask if they were okay and if the needed any help.
A work colleague recently came across a similar scenario except the casualty wasn't breathing. There was already someone there, but because there was a (thankfully short) delay waiting for an ambulance to arrive, he had to take over chest compressions because the other guy was knackered.
You don't need to now much to be able to help. Everyone should learn some basic life saving skills because you never know when something might happen or who it's going to happen to.
When I got round the bend the vauxhall had it's entire front smashed in and there was a Land rover upside down in a ditch at the side of the road. The missus went to check on the Vauxhall occupants. I went to the Land rover. I was expecting to find a corpse or heavily injured occupant.
I opened the door and the driver crawled out. Of course he was shuck up. I tried to get him to sit down and not move, but he insisted on lighting a fag and standing up and walking around.
We stayed until the emergency services turned up.
Turned out the middle aged Vauxhall driver had picked up the car new that morning and was trying to impress his twenty something girlfriend. My missus was ranting to the police that they should lock the twat up and throw away the key.
Nobody seriously injured thankfully.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
Has never happened but I've witnessed a number of motorcycle RTA's and I've done some bike-related risk assessment training.
Scene management is the most important aspect of any situation and the most important thing is to look after yourself.
Essentially you shouldn't put yourself in harm's way.
Number two is not to panic.
If you panic then at best you can be useless, but you can be a hazard too.
Are people aware of what a DRA is?
It is used in the fire service and means "dynamic risk assessment".
The easiest explanation of a DRA is crossing the road- you get to the road, look left, right and left and walk when it is safe.
Any emergency situation is the same, you look at the situation and you adjust to the situation.
Before I did the training I would tend to offer help to people.
More than a couple of times the person lying in the street has simply been drunk or on drugs and have rather noisily rejected any help offered, to the point of becoming aggressive.
In that situation I'd leave them to it.
In Emp's scenario above I'd ask if the ambulance has been called, ask if anyone knows first aid and try to work out if they know more or less than me. I'd defer to anyone with medical training (doctor, nurse) but otherwise I'd act in accordance with the training I've done. I'd wait for the ambulance and then ask the paramedic if they want me to remain or to leave. If I can't ask that then I'd wait until I could, up to a point. I didn't see anything useful in the above situation so remaining might not be worth remaining on scene once the emergency services are there. They usually tell you what to do.
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- Ask if the bystanders have called an ambulance
- Ask if anyone there is first-aid trained
- Ask if they need help
- If everything is under control, leave them to it.
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