Why? Life’s greatest question. But what does such a deep question have to do with first aid training?

When on a First Aid course, the WHY helps you understand HOW. It is that simple.

You see,  whether you decide to do the 1 day Emergency First Aid at Work course or the 3 day First Aid at work course you learn lots and lots of new, essential, life saving skills and……. You don’t use them! Not for a while at least…

So it was a while since you did your course and suddenly you have a situation where you need to perform First Aid. Being human you panic for a moment and try to remember HOW to do what is needed. But –  you may not remember what to do straight away, or you may remember some, but not all of what you need to know.

This is where WHY comes in, and helps you. Because even if you can’t quite remember HOW, if you remember WHY, you will do something. Which in all circumstances, is better than nothing.

For example- Why do we place someone in the recovery position? That is because they can breathe, but they need a clear airway to do so. Leave them on their back and the tongue will block the airway. If it has been a year or two since your course you may struggle which hand to grab or what knee to bend on your casualty. But most likely you WILL remember WHY you need to get them on their side, so you will turn them. It may not be exactly how they do it in the book, but it is still saving their life, and that’s the most important part!!

Another example- why do we apply pressure to a bleeding wound for ten minutes? You have been standing there for five minutes and your hand is aching and the casualty is crying- surely you can let go and see how the bleeding is doing? STOP RIGHT THERE!! The blood clotting mechanism takes about 9 minutes to complete. Lift that pressure too early and you could start a bleed off all over again. But remembering WHY you need to wait will give you the motivation to keep that pressure on!

Here at Siren First Aid training we always take time to help you understand WHY you are doing what you are doing. That gives you confidence to have a go at HOW.