198 Fun Facts About First Aid

Friedrich von Esmarch, who pioneered first aid training for soldiers around 1870, was a military surgeon in which country's army?

Prussia. Esmarch was the Prussian army's surgeon-general in the war of 1870–71, when soldiers were drilled to bandage and splint wounded comrades; the first aid manuals he wrote afterwards were translated around the world.

The 1877 St John Ambulance Association taught first aid in railway centres and which other workplaces?

Mining districts. The Order of St John set up its classes in the big railway centres and the coalfields so that railwaymen and colliers could give first aid to workmates hurt in accidents.

Because the red cross emblem is protected by law, first aid signs show a white cross on which colour?

Green. The red cross is reserved for military medics and the Red Cross itself, so the international first aid sign is a white cross on green, the colour also used for fire exit signs.

Napoleon's surgeon Larrey created an ambulance corps known by what French name?

Ambulances volantes, 'flying ambulances': horse-drawn wagons modelled on the army's fast 'flying artillery', which Larrey introduced in 1793 to fetch the wounded during the fighting instead of after it.

How many chest compressions per minute do adult CPR guidelines recommend?

100–120 a minute, about two pushes a second: go faster and the heart cannot refill between compressions, and because rescuers tire quickly, helpers are told to swap every minute or two.

How deep should chest compressions be pushed on an adult?

5–6 cm, roughly a third of the depth of the chest: rescuers are taught that pressing too hard beats pressing too soft, because shallow compressions do not work, even though a rib sometimes cracks.

What compression-to-breath ratio do guidelines recommend for a single rescuer giving adult CPR?

30:2: thirty compressions, then two breaths. The long run matters because every pause stops blood moving, so a rescuer gets two attempts at the breaths and then goes straight back to pushing, whether or not they went in.

For untrained bystanders helping an adult in cardiac arrest, which form of CPR do guidelines recommend?

Compression-only (hands-only) CPR is easier to do and far easier for a call handler to coach over the phone, and for an adult who collapses it has saved at least as many lives as CPR with breaths.

In 2010, resuscitation guidelines changed the order of CPR steps for all but newborns from ABC to what?

CAB: Compressions, Airway, Breathing. Rescuers who opened the airway first were slow to start pushing, so the 2010 guidelines put compressions first to get blood moving at once.

Which Bee Gees song is famously used as a tempo guide for CPR chest compressions?

Stayin' Alive has a beat at the pace rescuers are taught, and in a University of Illinois study medical staff who practised to it still kept the right rate weeks later with the song only in their heads.

Which heart rhythm will an AED refuse to shock, despite what television dramas suggest?

Asystole (flatline) leaves no electrical activity for a shock to reset, so the AED announces that no shock is advised and the rescuer carries on with CPR; a shock only helps a heart that is still quivering.

What does a defibrillator shock do to the heart's electrical activity?

Stops it momentarily. The shock depolarises much of the heart muscle at once, silencing the chaotic signals for an instant so that the heart's natural pacemaker, the sinoatrial node, can take charge again.

The portable external defibrillator was invented by cardiologist Frank Pantridge in which city?

Belfast. Working at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Pantridge fitted a portable defibrillator into an ambulance in the 1960s, so that hearts could be shocked at the roadside instead of waiting for the patient to reach a ward.

In 1947 Claude Beck's defibrillator saved its first patient, whose heart stopped during what?

An operation. The 14-year-old's heart stopped as surgeons were closing his chest, so Beck reopened it, massaged the heart by hand until the defibrillator was ready, and shocked it back into rhythm; the boy recovered.

First aiders are taught the checklist DR ABC; what does the D stand for?

Danger. Before going near a casualty, the rescuer checks that whatever hurt them cannot hurt anyone else, because a second casualty helps nobody; R is for response, and only then do the ABC checks begin.

For a choking adult, guidelines recommend cycles of how many back blows and the same number of abdominal thrusts?

Five. The 'five and five' drill is five sharp blows between the shoulder blades with the heel of the hand, then five abdominal thrusts, checking the mouth and repeating until the blockage clears.

What should a choking person who can still speak and breathe be encouraged to do first?

Keep coughing. A strong cough is the body's own best way of shifting a blockage, so first aiders step in with back blows only once the person can no longer cough, speak or breathe.

Which of these kitchen items do first aid guidelines warn against putting on a burn?

Butter. Fats and creams can do further damage and raise the risk of infection; the advice is cool running water for 20 minutes, then a loose layer of cling film, or a clean plastic bag over a burned hand.

Under the adult rule of nines, each whole leg counts as what share of body surface?

18%. Each arm and the head count as 9% and the front and back of the trunk as 18% each; a child's chart differs, because the head takes up far more of a small body and the legs less.

In the RICE mnemonic for treating a sprain, what does the E stand for?

Elevation. Propping the injured limb above heart level helps fluid drain and limits swelling; elevation also kept its place in later versions of the mnemonic such as PRICE and POLICE.

An adrenaline auto-injector for anaphylaxis is designed to be fired into which part of the body?

Thigh. The injector is pressed into the middle of the outer thigh, and if nothing has improved within minutes a second one is used; antihistamines play only a supporting part.

After adrenaline works, anaphylaxis patients are watched for hours in case of what?

A relapse: in biphasic anaphylaxis the symptoms flare up again hours after they have settled, which is why a second dose of adrenaline is given if they return.

In 1901 Red Cross founder Henry Dunant shared one of the very first Nobel Prizes, in which category?

Peace. The first Peace Prize was split between Dunant, honoured for helping wounded soldiers, and the French campaigner Frédéric Passy, honoured for peace congresses and arbitration: one humanitarian and one peacemaker.

Earle Dickson invented the Band-Aid in 1920 for his wife, who kept cutting herself doing what?

Cooking. Josephine Dickson kept nicking her fingers in the kitchen, so Earle stuck squares of gauze along a roll of tape, ready to use; sales were poor until free Band-Aids were handed to Boy Scout troops.

CPR mannequin Resusci Anne's face was modelled on the death mask of a woman said to have drowned in which river?

Seine. The face was cast from the death mask of L'Inconnue de la Seine, an unidentified young woman said to have been pulled from the river in the 1880s; her maker thought trainees would take more readily to a woman's face.

Trainees' practice phrase to Resusci Anne is said to have inspired the refrain of which Michael Jackson song?

Smooth Criminal. Its refrain 'Annie, are you OK?' echoes the check-for-response line trainees say to Resusci Anne, the CPR mannequin introduced in Norway in 1960.

In the FAST test for spotting a stroke, F, A and S are face, arms and speech; what is T?

Time: the cue to call an ambulance at once. The faster a stroke is treated the less of the brain is lost, and the clot-busting drug the test was written around has to be given within hours.

When stopping a nosebleed, which way should the head be tilted?

Forward. Leaning forward lets blood drain out rather than down the throat, where it causes nausea and airway trouble; pinch the soft part of the nose, not the bony bridge, without letting go to check.

A knocked-out adult tooth that cannot be put back in is best carried to the dentist in what?

Milk. Its chemistry is close enough to the body's own fluids to keep the cells on the root alive, whereas plain water harms them and a dry tooth soon dies; failing milk, tuck the tooth inside the cheek.

'Paradoxical undressing', in which a victim strips off their clothing, is a symptom of severe what?

Hypothermia. One theory is that the exhausted muscles clamping the skin's blood vessels suddenly relax, so warm blood floods outward and victims feel they are burning; some also crawl into small enclosed spaces, 'terminal burrowing'.

Which is regarded as the gold-standard cooling method for exertional heat stroke?

Cold-water immersion. A tub of ice water pulls heat out faster than ice packs can, and athletes cooled this way within minutes of collapsing have survived almost without exception.

Which of these snakebite responses do modern first aid guidelines actually recommend?

Keeping the limb still slows the spread of venom while help is on the way. Sucking does not get the venom out, and cutting, ice and tourniquets only add damage of their own.

Bandaging the whole bitten limb firmly is standard snakebite first aid chiefly in which country?

Australia. Devised by Struan Sutherland in the 1970s, the bandage slows venom moving through the lymph; it suits venoms that attack the whole body, but can worsen bites whose venom destroys tissue around the wound.

Recommended tick removal is to grasp it with fine tweezers as close to the skin as possible and pull how?

Without rotating. Pull straight out with slow, steady pressure; twisting, burning the tick or smothering it in petroleum jelly are all advised against while it is still embedded.

Checking for ticks after a walk mainly guards against which bacterial disease?

Lyme disease. The bacteria usually take a day or more to pass from a feeding tick, so removing ticks the same day prevents most infections; the illness was first recognised around Lyme, Connecticut, in the 1970s.

Good Samaritan laws take their name from a parable told in which Gospel?

Luke. The parable is told in Luke 10:25–37, where a Samaritan stops to tend a beaten traveller; France goes further than protecting helpers, obliging anyone to assist a person in peril or at least call for help.

The world's first emergency telephone number, 999, was introduced in 1937 in which city?

London. The service at first covered a 12-mile radius around Oxford Circus; about a week in, a Hampstead woman dialled it to report a burglar her husband was chasing, and he was promptly caught.

999 followed a 1935 fire, when a neighbour's call for help met what?

A jammed switchboard. A neighbour who dialled 0 for the operator was left waiting while several women died; his angry letter to a newspaper led to an inquiry and a number that operators could spot at once.

A small Alabama phone company placed the first US 911 call in 1968 to beat which telecom giant's launch?

AT&T had just announced 911 for its Bell companies and was preparing a first system in Huntington, Indiana; independent Alabama Telephone rushed one into Haleyville first, and the state's House speaker placed the opening call.

When no head or back injury is suspected, a person in shock is laid flat with their legs how?

Raised. Lifting the legs a little helps blood flow back towards the body's core; the head is left flat, with no pillow, and the person is kept warm until help arrives.

After eating fast carbs for low blood sugar, how many minutes does the ADA say to wait before rechecking?

15. It is the '15-15 rule': about 15 grams of fast-acting carbohydrate, such as a small glass of fruit juice, then a recheck after 15 minutes, repeated until blood glucose is back above 70 mg/dL.

If someone with dangerously low blood sugar cannot swallow, which hormone may be injected?

Glucagon. It tells the liver to release stored glucose, the opposite job to insulin; a nasal-powder form, Baqsimi, was approved in 2019 for use without an injection.

Which over-the-counter drug is an appropriate first response to a suspected heart attack?

Aspirin. Chewed slowly, a 300 mg tablet makes platelets less sticky and so thins the blood while the ambulance is on its way.

Which word best describes real drowning, which rarely looks like it does in films?

Silent: a drowning person cannot spare the breath to shout or the arms to wave, and may slip under in less than a minute unless someone is watching closely.

If a convulsive seizure lasts longer than how many minutes should bystanders call emergency services?

5. A seizure that goes on that long, or a second one before the person has come round, needs an ambulance; meanwhile cushion the head, restrain nothing, put nothing in the mouth, and roll them onto their side once the jerking stops.

Which link was added to the American Heart Association's 'chain of survival' in 2020?

Recovery. The physical and emotional effects of a cardiac arrest can linger for months or years, so the 2020 guidelines added a link for the survivor's rehabilitation and support after the hospital stay.

A red cross on a first aid kit is generally unlawful; which treaties protect the emblem?

Geneva Conventions. They reserve the red cross for military medics and the Red Cross itself; Johnson & Johnson can still print it on its products in the US because it was using the mark before American law restricted it.

Which early intervention is aimed at people at risk of developing PTSD?

Psychological first aid. Meant for the immediate aftermath of a disaster, it offers calm, practical help without pressing survivors to talk, and the WHO's 2011 guide is written for field workers, not just clinicians.

During the First World War, the ICRC set up a vast card-index agency to trace whom?

Prisoners of war. The agency kept a card for every captured soldier it heard of and carried messages between prisoners and their families, restoring links that the fighting had cut.

What should a first aider do with a knife or large shard embedded in a bleeding wound?

Leave it in place. The object may be plugging the wound and holding back the bleeding, so first aiders pad around it, keep it still and leave its removal to the surgeons.

Which 1859 battle's aftermath moved Henry Dunant to found what became the Red Cross?

Solferino. Dunant had come to petition Napoleon III about a business deal; instead he spent days organising local townspeople to nurse the wounded of both armies, and went home to campaign for volunteer relief societies.

After bandaging a limb, a first aider presses a fingernail until it pales, then watches the colour return to check what?

Circulation. If the colour takes more than two seconds to come back, the bandage is too tight and is choking off the blood supply beyond it, so it is loosened and put on again.

How did Red Cross founder Henry Dunant spend the decades after 1867?

In poverty. Bankrupted by a failed Algerian venture and pushed out of the committee he had founded, Dunant drifted around Europe in obscurity, at times sleeping outdoors, until a journalist rediscovered him in 1895.

Which Queen hit is often cited as matching the tempo for CPR compressions?

Another One Bites the Dust has a bassline at the right pace, and in one study of vets and veterinary nurses it kept compressions on the beat better than the Bee Gees did; instructors have been known to enjoy the irony.

After a blow to the head, clear fluid leaking from the nose or ears is a warning sign of what?

A skull fracture. The clear fluid is the liquid that cushions the brain, escaping through a break in the base of the skull, which is why it means an emergency call even if the person seems alert.

What was American Red Cross founder Clara Barton's nickname?

Angel of the Battlefield. Barton had no formal training, but she hauled wagonloads of supplies to the front and nursed men where they fell; a surgeon said she arrived at his field hospital like an angel, and the name stuck.

A cardiac arrest is an electrical fault in the heart, whereas a heart attack is caused by what?

A blocked artery. In a heart attack a coronary artery clogs and part of the heart muscle is starved of blood, yet the person is usually awake and breathing; in a cardiac arrest the heart stops pumping and they collapse.

After the Civil War, which agency did the future founder of the American Red Cross run in Washington?

The Office of Missing Soldiers. Barton and a few assistants answered tens of thousands of letters from families and identified some 22,000 of the war's missing men.

Which position does first aid guidance recommend for someone having an asthma attack?

Sitting upright. Sitting up straight helps the breathing, so the person is sat down, kept calm and helped to take a puff of their reliever inhaler every 30 to 60 seconds, with an ambulance called if ten puffs bring no relief.

St John ceased operating in Scotland in 1908 by agreement with which body?

St Andrew's Ambulance Association. Founded in Glasgow in 1882 by doctors alarmed at the rise in street and factory accidents, it struck a two-way bargain in 1908: St John left Scotland, and St Andrew's stayed out of England.

Why do children in cardiac arrest need breaths as well as compressions?

Their blood is short of oxygen: a child's heart usually stops because breathing failed first, through choking or suffocation for instance, so pushing on the chest alone moves blood with little oxygen in it.

What are the gasping breaths that can occur during cardiac arrest, which still call for CPR, called?

Agonal respirations are a brainstem reflex, not real breathing: the gasps are common in the first minutes after the heart stops, and rescuers are taught to ignore them and start pushing on the chest.

Which Austrian anesthesiologist is credited with pioneering CPR?

Peter Safar, a Vienna-born anaesthetist working in Baltimore, showed that even untrained people could give mouth-to-mouth, then joined airway, breathing and chest compressions into the single drill now called CPR.

Which Norwegian doll maker was persuaded to build the first CPR training mannequins?

Asmund Laerdal was a successful toymaker already making imitation wounds for first aid classes; when anaesthetist Bjørn Lind asked for a lifelike figure to practise mouth-to-mouth on, he built Resusci Anne, unveiled in 1960.

Why does mouth-to-mouth work with air the rescuer already breathed?

It still holds oxygen, most of what was breathed in. James Elam proved it in 1954 by ventilating paralysed patients with his own breath and showing that their blood stayed properly oxygenated.

At which university did an electrical engineer, his student and a young surgeon develop chest compressions in 1960?

Johns Hopkins. William Kouwenhoven's team was testing defibrillators on animals when Guy Knickerbocker noticed that simply pressing the paddles down produced a pulse; surgeon James Jude then tried it on patients.

Which household object is pressed against a rash to check whether it could be a sign of meningitis?

A drinking glass. Most rashes fade when clear glass is pressed on them, but the spots of blood poisoning that can come with meningitis stay visible through it, which with a fever means calling for help at once.

Before his choking maneuver, Henry Heimlich invented a one-way valve that saved wounded soldiers with what injury?

Collapsed lungs. The Heimlich valve, a rubber sleeve inside a tube, lets air and blood drain from a wounded chest without flowing back, so the lung can re-expand; soldiers carried one in case they were shot.

Where in the body does a rescuer apply pressure during a Heimlich maneuver?

The bottom of the diaphragm. The fist goes on the upper abdomen just above the navel and thrusts inward and upward under the diaphragm, squeezing the lungs so the trapped air pops the object out.

Which feared seizure risk is actually a myth?

Swallowing the tongue. It does not happen, so nothing should be forced between the teeth of someone having a seizure: a spoon or fingers in the mouth can cause the very choking and injuries they were meant to prevent.

Where are the two AED pads placed on an adult?

Upper right chest and lower left side. One pad goes below the right collarbone and the other on the lower left ribs, so the current crosses the heart; for small children the pads may go front and back.

The smelling salts once waved under the nose of someone who had fainted release which pungent gas?

Ammonia. The sharp fumes irritate the lining of the nose and lungs and set off a reflex gasp, which is how a whiff could rouse a fainter; they are little used in medicine now.

Auto-injectors like the EpiPen were first developed so that soldiers could give themselves antidotes to what?

Nerve gas. Military kits held ready-loaded injectors of antidote that a soldier could use on himself in seconds; in the 1970s Sheldon Kaplan adapted the idea to adrenaline for allergic reactions and the EpiPen was born.

Which kitchen liquid is poured on a box jellyfish sting before tentacles are picked off?

Vinegar. Poured on for at least 30 seconds, it stops the stinging cells that have not yet fired from releasing more venom, so the tentacles can then be picked off the skin.

A burn that turns the skin red but raises no blisters, like most sunburn, is classified how?

First-degree burns damage only the outermost layer of skin, which is why they redden and sting but do not blister; a blister is the sign that the burn has reached the layer beneath.

Why is a third-degree burn often painless?

The injury extends through all skin layers. A third-degree burn destroys the dermis and its nerve endings, so the area is often stiff, leathery and numb, whereas partial-thickness second-degree burns are very painful.

A burn caused by contact with hot liquid is specifically called what?

Scalding is a burn from wet heat, hot water or steam, rather than dry heat such as flame or a hot iron; the first aid is the same either way, cool running water and never ice.

Which injury is commonly treated by buddy taping?

Broken toe: buddy taping straps it to the toe next door, which acts as a ready-made splint; a wad of gauze goes between the two so the skin there stays dry and does not break down.

Which action, in French, gave the tourniquet its name?

Turning: the word comes from the French tourner, because the band was tightened by twisting a stick through it; the surgeon Jean Louis Petit later swapped the stick for a screw.

Surgeons of which ancient empire used tourniquets made of bronze straps?

Roman surgeons clamped a bronze strap round the limb to stem the bleeding while they amputated; one survives in the Science Museum's collection, its metal once covered in leather for comfort.

What is the most important treatment when altitude sickness keeps getting worse?

Climbing back down is the cure because the illness comes from thin air: losing a few hundred metres of height brings more oxygen, while pushing on can flood the lungs or brain with fluid.

What happens to shivering as hypothermia grows more severe?

It stops. Shivering is the body's way of making heat, and as the core temperature keeps falling it gives out; a cold casualty who has stopped shivering and grown clumsy and drowsy is getting worse, not better.

What is the paling or reddening of skin that often precedes frostbite called?

Frostnip. Frostnip is the mild, reversible first stage, with pale or reddened numb skin but no ice in the tissue; true frostbite damage comes from ice crystals and clots in small vessels after thawing.

Which sign marks the step from heat exhaustion to life-threatening heat stroke?

Confusion means the brain itself is overheating: heat stroke is a body temperature above 40 °C with confusion, fits or collapse and needs an ambulance, while heat exhaustion usually eases with rest, shade and fluids.

Which heat illness strikes the legs, arms or abdomen after hours of heavy sweating?

Heat cramps. Hours of sweating drain salt as well as water, and the muscles seize up when the water is replaced without the salt; rest in the cool and a salty or sports drink settle them.

Under what brand name is naloxone, the nasal spray that reverses opioid overdoses, commonly sold?

Narcan. The FDA approved the nasal spray in 2015 and in 2023 cleared it for sale without a prescription, so anyone can buy it and keep it to hand to revive someone who has overdosed.

Why can an overdose return an hour after naloxone revives someone?

It wears off first: naloxone fades sooner than many opioids leave the body, so the overdose can take hold again; more doses may be needed and the person still needs emergency care.

Freedom House, often called America's first paramedic ambulance service, was staffed by Black residents of which city's Hill District?

Pittsburgh. Freedom House trained Black men from the Hill District, many long out of work, to treat patients on the way to hospital instead of just driving them; the city replaced it with its own service in 1975.

Before the mid-1960s, US ambulance service was typically provided by police or which business?

Local funeral homes. A hearse was the only vehicle that could carry a person lying down, so undertakers doubled as ambulance crews, offering a fast ride to hospital and little or no care on the way.

The serpent-entwined staff inside the Star of Life belongs to which Greek god?

Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, carried a staff with one snake coiled round it, the traditional emblem of medicine; the two-snake winged caduceus sometimes used instead belonged to Hermes, the messenger god.

Which organization created the identification symbol later adapted into the Star of Life?

American Medical Association: its medical-alert emblem was borrowed for ambulances in the 1970s, after the Red Cross complained that the orange cross many of them carried looked too much like its own.

Why can rescuers safely touch a person who has just been struck by lightning?

The body does not store electricity, so a lightning victim is safe to touch at once; anyone left without breathing or a heartbeat needs CPR straight away.

An elevator marked with the Star of Life indicates what?

It is large enough for a stretcher. US building codes require buildings of four or more storeys to have a lift that takes an ambulance stretcher lying flat, and to mark its door frame with the star so crews can find it.

What is the proper name for the injury commonly called a pulled muscle?

A strain is an overstretched or torn muscle; for the first couple of days it is best kept away from hot baths, heat packs and massage, all of which can add to the swelling.

The word 'triage' comes from a French verb meaning what?

To sort or select. Triage comes from the French trier, 'to sort'; Napoleon's surgeon Larrey laid the groundwork by treating the wounded in order of urgency, whatever their rank or nationality.

What do emergency services declare when the injured outnumber the crews able to treat them?

A mass casualty incident is defined by the mismatch, not the headcount: instead of giving each casualty full care, the first crews quickly assess everyone and treat the most urgent first until more help arrives.

Which chemical did Joseph Lister introduce as a steriliser at Glasgow Royal Infirmary?

Carbolic acid, now called phenol: convinced by Pasteur that germs made wounds rot, Lister tried it on wounds after hearing that a related coal-tar product was being used to disinfect sewage.

Who showed in 1847-48 that hand washing before deliveries reduced puerperal fever?

Ignaz Semmelweis. At Vienna General Hospital in 1847 he made doctors wash in chlorinated lime before deliveries and deaths from childbed fever fell sharply; offended colleagues later abandoned the practice and he lost his post.

How does an antiseptic differ from a disinfectant?

It is applied to living tissue. A surgeon wipes an antiseptic on the patient's skin and a disinfectant on the operating table; the second kind is meant only for non-living surfaces such as worktops.

Which bees are capable of stinging?

Only females. The sting is a modified ovipositor, so only queens and female workers carry one; male drones cannot sting, and foraging honey bees rarely sting unless stepped on or roughly handled.

What is the pH character of honey bee venom?

Acidic. Bee venom (apitoxin) has a pH of roughly 5, so it is slightly acidic, though the pain comes from melittin rather than acidity; allergic reactions to venom components can be life-threatening.

A concussion is classed as which severity of traumatic brain injury?

Mild. A concussion is the mildest grade of traumatic brain injury, and most people who get one never pass out; a blow to the head followed by headache, dizziness or a gap in memory counts even if the person stayed awake.

What is the medical term for fainting?

Syncope, from the Greek for 'cutting short', is a brief blackout caused by a fall in blood flow to the brain; lying flat lets the blood return, and most people come round within moments.

Shock caused by sepsis or anaphylaxis, where blood vessels dilate and leak, is which type?

Distributive. In distributive shock the vessels themselves fail, widening and leaking so blood pools away from the organs; sepsis, anaphylaxis and spinal cord injury are the classic causes.

Shock caused by heavy bleeding, diarrhea or vomiting is which type?

Hypovolemic. Losing blood or body fluid shrinks the circulating volume, so the heart has too little to pump; septic shock follows infection and neurogenic shock follows damage to the nervous system.

Where on the body is the carotid pulse felt?

The neck: the carotid pulse lies in the soft hollow beside the Adam's apple; it should be pressed gently and on one side only, because squeezing both at once can slow blood flow to the head and bring on a faint.

How should an unconscious pregnant woman be positioned to relieve pressure on the vena cava?

On her left side. Lying on the left moves the heavy uterus off the inferior vena cava, which runs to the right of the spine, so blood can return to the heart.

The Glasgow Coma Scale scores eye opening, speech and which third kind of response?

Movement: the scale adds eye, verbal and motor scores, each starting at 1, which is why the lowest possible total is 3 rather than 0 and a fully alert person scores 15.

In wound care, what does a bandage do when used together with a dressing?

Holds it in place. The dressing is the sterile pad that touches the wound, so it is the part that must be clean; the bandage wrapped over it never touches the wound, and can also be used alone to support a joint.

A sprain damages which tissue within a joint?

Ligaments are the tough bands that hold bone to bone, and a sprain overstretches or tears them when a joint is wrenched beyond its normal range.

Which joints most commonly suffer sprains?

Ankle, knee and wrist. The ankle is sprained most often, usually on its outer side when the foot rolls over, and wrists tend to go when a hand is flung out to break a fall.

What is the medical term for a nosebleed?

Epistaxis comes from the Greek for dripping; about 60 per cent of people have a nosebleed at some point, most often set off by nose-picking or dry air.

Someone who feels faint and cannot lie down should sit with their head where?

Between their knees: getting the head low helps blood reach the brain again, which is also why a person who has fainted usually comes round once flat on the floor.

For a drowning victim, resuscitation guidelines say CPR should begin with what?

Rescue breaths. Drowning stops the heart by starving it of oxygen, so getting air in comes before compressions; thrusting on the abdomen to expel water only delays that and makes vomiting more likely.

Which home emetic for poisoning did the American Academy of Pediatrics stop recommending in 2003?

Syrup of ipecac. Parents were once told to keep it to make a poisoned child vomit, but in 2003 the American Academy of Pediatrics said to throw it away after reviews found no evidence that it improved outcomes.

Which emergency number is used across Europe and can also be dialed in parts of Asia, Africa and South America?

112 became the EU's single emergency number in 1991, and since 2018 new cars approved for sale there carry eCall, which dials 112 by itself after a serious crash and sends the car's location.

What should rescuers do if a casualty with a suspected spinal injury starts to vomit?

Roll the body as one unit: one rescuer steadies the head while another turns the casualty, keeping the head in line with the back, because any bend or twist of the spine could make the injury worse.

Rabies was historically called hydrophobia because victims did what?

Panicked when offered a drink: swallowing sets off agonising spasms in the throat, so even the sight of water can terrify a patient who is desperately thirsty; once such symptoms start, rabies is almost always fatal.

By what name, describing its best-known symptom, is tetanus also known?

Lockjaw. Tetanus toxin makes muscles spasm, usually starting with the jaw muscles, hence the old name; the bacterium lives in soil, dust and manure and enters through cuts or punctures.

Tetanus spasms can be violent enough to do what?

Break bones: the toxin makes muscles clamp so hard that the spine itself can fracture; routine vaccination is why the disease is now rare in countries such as Britain.

What is the genericized British trademark for an adhesive bandage, equivalent to Band-Aid?

Elastoplast. Smith & Nephew first made it in Britain under licence, and in 2000 sold the brand, by then a British word for any sticking plaster, to Germany's Beiersdorf, which sells its plasters elsewhere as Hansaplast.

A triangular bandage folded into a long strip is called what?

A cravat bandage. Folded over and over from point to base, the triangle becomes a strip like the necktie it is named after, handy for tying on a splint; Scouts learn to make one from a neckerchief.

In the chain of survival, which link comes immediately after early CPR?

Early defibrillation. The chain runs recognition and a call for help, early CPR, early defibrillation, then advanced care; bystanders can perform the first three links, which is why AEDs hang in public places.

Where do most cardiac arrests outside hospital happen?

At home: about seven in ten out-of-hospital arrests happen in someone's house, so the person who needs CPR is most likely a relative and the only help for the first minutes is whoever is in the room.

What name do trauma teams give the first sixty minutes after a serious injury?

The golden hour was the phrase of the Baltimore trauma surgeon R Adams Cowley, who argued that a badly injured person not treated within about an hour may die days later of damage already done.

Oral rehydration solution, the standard drink for dehydration, is water mixed with salt and which other ingredient?

Sugar is there to work, not to sweeten: the gut absorbs salt and water far better when glucose is carried in with them, which is why the WHO recommends the cheap mixture for diarrhoea.

Which serious heart rhythm can a large electric shock trigger?

Ventricular fibrillation. A current passing through the heart can scramble its own signals into this chaotic quiver, which pumps no blood; rescuers must cut the power before touching the casualty.

How are the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning often described?

Flu-like. Headache, dizziness, weakness and nausea are easily blamed on a virus, so slow poisoning from a faulty heater or furnace can go unrecognised for as long as the appliance keeps running.

Why can carbon monoxide fill a home without anyone noticing the gas?

It has no smell or colour, so nothing warns the people breathing it; a detector that sounds an alarm when the gas is present is the recommended safeguard for homes with boilers, fires or stoves.

Sunburn is technically what kind of injury?

A radiation burn. Sunburn is caused by ultraviolet radiation, not heat, which is why skin can burn on a cool or overcast day.

Which colour of urine is an early warning sign of dehydration?

Dark yellow, strong-smelling urine and passing less of it than usual are early warnings, along with thirst and a dry mouth; the NHS rule of thumb is to drink enough to keep it a pale colour.

What usually happens to a honey bee that stings a person?

It dies: a worker's barbed sting snags in human skin and tears out of the bee's body, yet the detached sting goes on pumping venom, which is why it should be removed as fast as possible.

What is the medical term for bleeding to death?

Exsanguination comes from the Latin for 'drained of blood'; it is what a tourniquet is meant to prevent when a wound in a limb will not stop bleeding.

What are the two main types of stroke?

Ischemic and hemorrhagic: a blocked vessel or a burst one. Clot-busting drugs are given only for the first, so a brain scan to tell the two apart comes before treatment.

What is a break in which the bone pierces the skin called?

An open or compound fracture carries a high infection risk because the wound connects bone to the outside; a bone broken into several fragments is comminuted.

In the four-stage model of wound healing, what is the first stage?

Hemostasis. Within minutes platelets plug the wound and a fibrin clot forms, stopping the bleeding before inflammation, proliferation and tissue remodeling follow.

The 1970s TV drama Emergency! made paramedics famous by following fire crews in and around which city?

Los Angeles: the NBC series followed county firefighter-paramedics Gage and DeSoto from 1972 to 1977 with EMS pioneer James O. Page as adviser, and its popularity encouraged other communities to set up paramedic services.

In START triage, which tag colour marks casualties who are dead or beyond help?

Black. START crews first call for everyone who can walk to move aside, then check the rest one by one: red for immediate care, yellow for delayed, and black for anyone still not breathing once the airway is opened.

On what date was the blue Star of Life registered as a certification mark to the NHTSA?

February 1, 1977. The blue Star of Life was registered as a certification mark to the NHTSA on 1 February 1977, after the Department of Health, Education and Welfare had recommended it in October 1973.

What should be done at once with a bite from an animal that may have rabies?

Wash it with soapy water straight away, then get medical help: thorough washing and a prompt course of vaccine stop the virus reaching the nervous system, after which the disease is almost always fatal.

Which pupil sign is typical of an opioid overdose?

Pinpoint pupils. Opioids shrink the pupils and slow the breathing; pinpoint pupils together with unconsciousness and laboured or stopped breathing are the three signs that call for naloxone.

Where should a limb tourniquet be placed in relation to the wound?

2–3 inches above it. Place the tourniquet 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7 cm) above the wound, never over a joint, and tighten until the bleeding stops; note the time, since a limb tolerates about two hours.

Which emblem joined the red cross and red crescent in 2005 as a sign free of religious meaning?

The red crystal was adopted by governments so that relief workers could be protected by a sign with no national, political or religious overtones where a cross or a crescent might be misread.

Which 1889 disaster gave the American Red Cross its first large-scale relief operation?

The Johnstown Flood. After a dam burst above the Pennsylvania town in May 1889, killing more than 2,200 people, the Red Cross's founder arrived within days with some fifty helpers and stayed for five months.

What is the medical term for an ordinary bruise?

A contusion is blood leaking from small vessels broken beneath unbroken skin, which is why it shows as a dark patch that changes colour as it heals; an abrasion is a graze and a laceration a tear.

How long is the usual incubation period for rabies?

One to three months is typical because the virus travels slowly along nerves to the brain, which is why a bite on the face is more urgent than one on the foot.

Which eight-pointed emblem do St John Ambulance volunteers wear around the world?

The Maltese cross is the badge of the medieval Knights Hospitaller, the Order of St John, whose modern British successor founded the charity; St John links its eight points to the qualities of a good first-aider.

What is the first thing to do when a household chemical splashes into someone's eye?

Flush it with water at once and keep going for many minutes, because the chemical goes on burning until it is washed away; alkalis such as drain cleaner usually do more damage than acids.

Which kitchen wrap does the NHS suggest laying over a cooled burn, never winding it around a limb?

Cling film is laid flat over the burn, never wound around it, and the NHS rules out plasters and sticky dressings on burned skin altogether.

Which household adhesive was sprayed on wounded soldiers in the Vietnam War to slow their bleeding?

Super glue's chemical family, the cyanoacrylates, now includes medical versions that close cuts without stitches, though none is strong enough to replace sutures entirely.

Catgut stitches, which dissolve inside the body, are made from the intestines of which animals?

Sheep and cattle supply the gut, along with goats, and no cat is involved: the name may come from a misreading of kit, an old word for a fiddle strung with it.

Which live creatures did the FDA clear as a medical device for cleaning dead tissue from wounds?

Maggots of the green bottle fly liquefy dead tissue with enzymes, working more precisely than a surgeon can and cleaning a wound in a day or two.

Which late-night host nearly lost a finger after catching his wedding ring on a counter in a fall?

Jimmy Fallon's injury, known as a ring avulsion, needed microsurgery, and a month later the finger still had no feeling in it.

Which spilled McDonald's drink gave Stella Liebeck third-degree burns and led to a famous lawsuit?

Coffee left the 79-year-old in hospital for eight days having skin grafts, followed by two years of medical treatment.

Which bubbling antiseptic, long poured on cuts at home, does the Mayo Clinic advise against?

Hydrogen peroxide can irritate a wound, and studies disagree on whether it slows healing, so a plain rinse under the tap is the advice instead.

Which sweet food, used on wounds since ancient Egypt, now comes in FDA-cleared medical-grade form?

Honey may help partial-thickness burns heal four to five days faster than other dressings, though the evidence for most other wounds is weak.

Which three-step fire-safety drill teaches children what to do if their clothes catch fire?

Stop, drop and roll works because running fans the flames, while rolling on the ground starves them of oxygen; covering the face with the hands is an extra step.

Which succulent's gel is sold to soothe minor burns, despite conflicting evidence that it works?

Aloe vera has been tested on burns in nine randomised trials; a 2024 review found they healed faster with it, but pain relief was no better.

Road rash, the cyclists' and bikers' term for skin scraped off on tarmac, is which type of wound?

Abrasion means the top of the skin has been ground away; a mild one, the everyday graze, heals without a mark because the deeper layer of skin is untouched.

What is the medical term for a bruise, in which damaged capillaries leak blood under unbroken skin?

Contusion colours track the breakdown of haemoglobin in the leaked blood: the green stage comes from biliverdin and the yellow stage from bilirubin.

Which tiny components of blood, lacking any nucleus, clump together at a cut to form the first plug?

Platelets are fragments shed by giant bone-marrow cells called megakaryocytes, and only mammals have them; birds and amphibians use whole cells instead.

Wound pus, sometimes tinted green by an antibacterial protein, is packed with dead what?

White blood cells called neutrophils swarm to the infection, release granules that destroy bacteria and then die, and their remains thicken the fluid into pus.

Which type of scar, far more common in people of African descent, keeps growing beyond the wound?

Keloid scars spread in claw-like growths over normal skin, and in the US they are seen 15 times more often in people of sub-Saharan African descent than of European descent.

Which French surgeon found an egg-yolk ointment healed battle wounds better than boiling oil?

Ambroise Paré went back to the battlefield the next morning and found the men treated with oil in agony, while those given egg yolk, rose oil and turpentine were recovering.

Which absorbent bog plant dressed wounds for centuries and stood in for cotton during World War I?

Sphagnum moss can hold 16 to 26 times its dry weight in water, and a 1918 paper in Science helped persuade doctors to accept it as a dressing in place of cotton.

What should a fresh burn be held under for 20 minutes, according to NHS first aid advice?

Cool running water still helps up to three hours after the injury, the NHS says, whereas the Mayo Clinic warns that cold water can make a burn worse.

What does the Mayo Clinic advise doing with the blisters that rise on a partial-thickness burn?

Leave them intact, because the unbroken skin protects against infection; a blister that bursts by itself should be cleaned gently with water.

In a blistering burn, fluid pools beneath the epidermis and above which deeper layer of the skin?

Dermis is the layer a partial-thickness burn reaches, which is why such burns blister, hurt badly and can take up to eight weeks to heal.

The rule of nines for estimating burn size is less accurate in which group of patients?

Young children carry far more of their body surface on the head than the rule, published in 1951 by the aptly named Alexander Burns Wallace, allows for.

Which part of a casualty's own body covers about 1% of their skin, giving a quick ruler for burns?

Palm and fingers together make a handprint of roughly 1% of the body surface, so a scattered burn can be sized by counting handprints instead of consulting a chart.

According to the Mayo Clinic, what must be done before touching someone who has an electrical burn?

Turn off the power, or if that is impossible push the source away with something dry and non-conducting, such as cardboard, plastic or wood.

Before rinsing a chemical burn, what should be done with any dry powder left on the skin?

Brush it off with gloved hands, then rinse the area for at least 20 minutes, in a shower if one is available.

Which chemical class, found in drain cleaners, makes up most substances that cause chemical burns?

Strong bases account for 55% of the more than 25,000 substances that can burn the skin, against 26% for strong acids.

Calcium gluconate is the antidote for burns from which glass-etching acid, slow to show symptoms?

Hydrofluoric acid counts as a weak acid, yet it is corrosive enough to attack glass, which is why it has to be stored in plastic containers.

Rope burn, carpet burn and rug burn are everyday names for skin injuries caused by what?

Friction generates heat, so in extreme cases skin dragged across rope or carpet suffers genuine thermal burning as well as being scraped.

Lichtenberg figures, fern-like patterns on the skin that fade within a day, mark survivors of what?

A lightning strike is lethal in about one case in ten, and it can scorch the same branching figure into the grass around the point it hits.

Why does the Mayo Clinic say rings and belts should come off quickly from around a burn?

The area will swell quickly, the clinic warns, so jewellery, belts and tight clothing come off first; only clothing stuck to the burn is left alone.

What is the most common cause of death among fire victims, ahead of the burns themselves?

Smoke inhalation is why singed nose hairs or burns around the mouth worry medics: both suggest that the airway itself may have been burned.

Which precious metal gives its name to a sulfadiazine cream used to stop burns getting infected?

Silver sulfadiazine is on the WHO's List of Essential Medicines, yet it is no longer recommended for minor burns because it may prolong healing.

In Brazil, the skin of which farmed fish was first trialled in 2017 as a bandage for burns?

Tilapia skin has since been used on the burned paws of black bears caught in California wildfires.

Burned RAF airmen treated by surgeon Archibald McIndoe formed which drinking society in 1941?

The Guinea Pig Club was named for the experimental nature of the surgery its members underwent at East Grinstead, and it began with just 39 patients.

Which Boston nightclub fire of 1942, the deadliest in history, spurred advances in treating burns?

Cocoanut Grove patients were given plasma and saline according to the extent of their burns, experience that led in 1947 to the first comprehensive formula for fluid therapy.

The Parkland formula for replacing fluids after burns is named after a hospital in which Texas city?

Dallas's Parkland Memorial Hospital is best known as the place where President Kennedy was pronounced dead, two years after its burns unit opened in 1961.

What is the thick, dry crust of dead tissue that forms over a deep burn called?

Eschar that rings a limb or the chest may have to be cut through urgently, in an operation called an escharotomy, to restore circulation or let the lungs expand.

Which French surgeon, namesake of a contracture of the hand, sorted burns into six degrees in 1832?

Guillaume Dupuytren first operated on the hand condition that bears his name in 1831, and also won esteem for treating Napoleon Bonaparte's haemorrhoids.

Which blistering weapon, first used by Germany near Ypres in 1917, caused severe chemical burns?

Mustard gas was named for its yellow colour and mustard-like smell, and wherever it touched the skin it raised blisters that could fill with pus.

Burn survivors are advised to wear silicone sheets and tight compression garments to limit what?

Scarring after a deep burn is often hypertrophic, meaning raised, tense and stiff, and it can restrict movement and everyday activities.

Which nagging symptom troubles up to 90% of adults while a burn is healing?

Itching after a burn is so stubborn that antihistamines relieve it in only about one patient in five.

Which neck injury, typical of rear-end car crashes, was called railway spine before cars existed?

Whiplash does not need a vehicle at all: the same sudden distortion of the neck has been caused by headbanging, bungee jumping and ordinary falls.

Which Superman actor was paralysed from the neck down after being thrown from a horse in 1995?

Christopher Reeve landed head first and shattered his first and second neck vertebrae, an injury that also stopped his breathing; he used a ventilator for the rest of his life.

Which railroad foreman survived an iron rod through the skull, reportedly changing his personality?

Phineas Gage lost much of his left frontal lobe to the tamping iron, and for a time the change was such that friends saw him as no longer Gage.

Which actress died in 2009 from bleeding inside the skull after a fall in a beginners' ski lesson?

Natasha Richardson at first declined medical help, then reported a severe headache about two hours later; such a lucid interval is especially indicative of an epidural haematoma.

Twin black eyes that signal a fractured skull base are named after which North American animal?

Raccoon eyes appear when blood from the fracture seeps into the soft tissue around the eyes, and may come with Battle's sign, a bruise behind the ear.

Which part of a football helmet can be removed to reach the airway after a suspected spinal injury?

The facemask may come off, the Mayo Clinic says, but the helmet itself stays on, because moving the head or neck risks permanent paralysis.

Which airway technique replaces the head tilt when a first aider suspects an injury to the neck?

Jaw thrust moves the lower jaw forward, which pulls the tongue clear of the windpipe without the neck having to bend.

In the AVPU scale for grading a casualty's level of consciousness, what does the V stand for?

Verbal means the casualty reacts when spoken to, even with no more than a grunt, a moan or a slight movement of a limb.

A watery leak from the nose or ear after a fracture at the base of the skull may be which liquid?

Cerebrospinal fluid normally surrounds the brain and spinal cord, and it leaks in about 20% of fractures of the base of the skull.

A contrecoup injury bruises the brain in which place, relative to the point of impact on the skull?

The opposite side suffers probably because the brain keeps moving after the skull stops; such injuries are typical when a moving head hits something fixed.