First aid
Knowing how to act in a medical emergency can save a life. The first thing to do is to call a doctor and to alert health care facilities (call 118). It is essential not to move the injured person, but it is necessary to remove anything that can make it difficult for him/her to breathe. It is also important to figure out whether he/she is in a state of consciousness or not by calling and shaking him/her gently.
If the victim is unresponsive, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) needs to be performed. To perform the CPR you need to align his/her head, trunk, limbs first and then to hyperextend the head and neck to prevent the tongue from blocking the inlet of air and to open up the airways. Also explore his/her mouth in order to remove any foreign object. At this point, it is necessary to evaluate respiratory activity (look, listen, and feel for breathing) for no longer than 10 seconds: check to see if the chest rises and listen to the victim’s breathing sounds by placing the ear on his/her chest. If he/she is breathing, put him/her in the recovery position. Otherwise call 118, then perform mouth-to-mouth or mouth-to-nose on children.
The person in respiratory arrest must be provided with oxygen support, through mouth-to-mouth. You must hyperextend the victim’s head, pinch the nose closed, cover their mouth tightly with your mouth and give two rescue breaths, each one should take about a second and make the chest rise. Mouth-to-nose is used on children: keep the victim’s mouth closed and seal your mouth around the person’s nose, and breathe into it.
Give two rescue breaths and watch for the victim’s chest to rise and fall, then evaluate cardiovascular activity placing two fingertips on his/her carotid artery to feel for the carotid pulse. If you can feel it, it means that blood is circulating and it is possible to perform artificial respiration. On the contrary, if you cannot feel any pulsations, the blood is not circulating and you should perform a cardiac massage, without artificial respiration. First of all, it is important to locate the correct hand position, placing two fingers at the sternum. Then put the palm of your other hand next to your fingers. Place one hand on top of the other and interlace the fingers. Lock your elbows and using your body’s weight, compress the victim’s chest. The depth of compressions should be approximately 4-5 cm. If you feel a pulse or breathing it means that the victim’s heart is beating.
