Pelvic Injuries most commonly occur when the pelvis undergoes trauma. The pelvis is the large bone which sits at the base of the spine and is the site of the ball-and-socket joints of both legs. Common causes of pelvic injury include car crashes and falls from great heights. In car crashes, people tend to hit […]
Eye injuries are surprisingly common, and there are many different types of eye injury. Chemical Contaminants If you get a chemical into the eye, it needs to be washed out as soon as possible. Ideally, you should use either an eyewash station (common in factories and laboratories) or proper eyewash, normally a type of […]
Coagulopathy is a condition in which the blood’s ability to coagulate – clot – is impaired. This would mean that if someone had a serious bleed, the bodies’ ability to form clots and stop the bleeding would be reduced. This condition can cause prolonged or excessive bleeding, which occurs typically during any sort of medical […]
Tourniquets can only be used on arms or legs. With other parts of the body, you would have to use direct pressure and haemostatic dressings. Tourniquets control excessive bleeding that you cannot control with direct pressure and pressure dressings. These types of bleeds are classified as catastrophic bleeds. They include amputations, stab wounds, gunshot wounds, […]
If you do not have a commercial tourniquet, you can create improvised tourniquets using something flexible such as a triangular bandage, a scarf or a necktie. However, you should not use a thin flexible material such as a shoelace, string or a wire. If you were to use something like this, you may end up […]
Bleeding can occur through many different means, such as an RTC or knife crime. As a First Aider, you should always try and stop the bleeding as fast as possible, especially when the bleeding is classed as a catastrophic bleed. When bleeding, the body starts to repair injuries within the first 24 hours but the […]
The Hepatitis C virus, or HCV, reproduces in the liver causing inflammation and, in more extreme cases, cirrhosis and liver cancer. There are six main strains of the virus. In the UK, genotype 1 and genotype 3 are the most common strains. The exact number of people infected with the virus is unknown due to […]
Nose Bleeds are common in children and adults and in most cases are easily treated. Nosebleeds can be distressing to children and be embarrassing to adults. Blood vessels in the nose are close to the skin and easily damaged by putting things in the nose, as well as stress and illness. Nosebleeds can also be […]
Shock is defined as a lack of oxygen to the body’s tissues. Many different things can cause this, and there are lots of different types of shock. Types of Shock The first one is hypovolemic shock. This occurs normally during or after a major trauma incident, for example, a car crash, where the patient loses […]
A Cerebral Contusion is when there is bruising on the brain – this happens in around 20-30% of all serious head injuries. Blood vessels in the brain get damaged and leak. This causes pockets of blood to form either in or around the brain. Consequently, the pressure builds up and it will affect the brain. […]
