A life saving skill.......
 

Hadn't had one of these for a while, and recent events have brought it to mind (http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=161354).

On a lesser level....Friday coming from a friends I came across an RTA, a biker was forced off the road, the resulting injury was a snapped tib & fib (mid shin or so) and rotation, now although unlikely to be life threatening, circulation was blocked to his foot, I'm fortunate that my previous occupation furnished me with the necessary skills to deal with that sort of thing, but I've always had basic CPR knowledge and really wouldn't feel comfortable riding without it.

We all ride bikes and it's quite possible to come across an accident at any stage, are you unselfish enough to have the necessary training to save a life ?

Cheer Mark

Re: A life saving skill.......
 

Done my de-fib training which includes CPR and about to re-do my first aid traning at the end of the month - the broken elbow last year stopped me doing it then. I've helped at 3 road accidents, two for bikers. They should CPR it an essential part of the car and bike test.

And if all else fails - make sure you are on the organ donation register. Your bits are no good to you once they've been put in a wooden box.

Re: A life saving skill.......
 

couldn't agree more Clare, perhaps as so many aren't riding at present, now is a good time to find somewhere to grab a bit of training?

a lot of firms offer the training it's worth asking; if not try contacting your local ambulance service as they may run a program or something like St john's, another option is to ask at your local bike shop as a lot have information on "first bike at scene" type courses.

Cheers Mark

Re: A life saving skill.......
 

I shall be rearranging my first aider re-training when I go back to work, as its lapsed. There wasn't really time to do the refresher whilst on maternity.

We have the de-fib training option now, as there was an unfortunate accident at work, not that it would do any good for that incident, but it kinda gives another thing under the belt for those exceptional circumstances.

Re: A life saving skill.......
 

The only thing with this is you must keep your training up to date, certainly in CPR, as the Resitation council change how its done as new reserch finds out what works best.

I'm lucky that in my current job I have 6 monthly refresher training to Emergency Responder level

When I first started CPR was 15 compressions to 2 breaths, now its 30:2 for adults. Now current thinking is not to worry too much about getting the 2 breaths, but keep the chest compressions going to keep the brain fed with fresh blood.

But I can't disagree with having some basic first aid training

Re: A life saving skill.......
 

What really irritates me is our former employers attitute towards DFIB's. We weren't allowed to have them just in case we gave someone an electric shock they didn't need.

But as many supermarkets and other places routinely have them on the walls, its quite ridiculous we couldn't have them. These days the devices I've used are foolproof, so you can only give someone a shock if they need one. Even my 12 year old could operate the DFIB we have at work.

Re: A life saving skill.......
 

ANd of course the training covers the machine, not your workplace so if the person in the queue at Tesco hits the deck you can use their de-fib machine if yu are the first person at the scene. One of my employers used to pay the first aiders £20 per month bonus for being trained which was unasked for but nice anyway.

Re: A life saving skill.......
 

I have to have my refreshers every year. It's true though every time I do it the ratio of compressions to rescue breaths change! Although because I work in Theatres they now teach us to do the rescue breaths with a face mask and hand ventilator bag. We always get told that the compressions should be at a rate of a hundred compressions per minute. It never ceases to amaze me what the instructors think 100 bpm is :rolleyes:. Usually they do it around twice that rate.
Ironically Stayin Alive by the Bee Gees is 103 bpm, so if you ever find yourself performing CPR on someone just hum stayin alive to yourself whilst your doing it and you won't go far wrong ;):D

Re: A life saving skill.......
 

But you must be aware of vacarious liability - ie if you go to help someone if you're trained and get it wrong they could sue you - charming.

So some doctors may avoid getting involved, and leave it to the Paramedics to deal with.

Unlike someone who is untrained, is looked on as a good samaritan.

Something to thank the 'where's there's blame, there's a claim' culture

Re: A life saving skill.......
 

That might have changed recently, we were taught to use Nellie the Elephant :p

Stayin Alive might be the latest, I forget what we were using :D