It is definitely better to have knowledge and skills about first aid and not need to use it immediately than to need to conduct first aid urgently and not know anything about it. Throughout everyone’s lifetime, there will be several situations wherein there is a need to save lives through immediate medical responses to surprising, unexpected and uncalled for situations, like accidents.

First aid is an instant assistance provided to an immediately sick or injured person. The doctor and the hospital may be always on call but may not be always conveniently accessible. Adverse life situations may happen when you least expect them, at the oddest places, during the oddest time. That is why there is a need to know all about how urgent first aid assistance can be initially applied and provided when needed.

You do not need to be a professional medical practitioner to be able to administer first aid. Specific knowledge, necessary skills, capability for situation assessment and sound judgment call to action are the prerequisites to administering proper and safe first aid procedures. As people all know, preparedness and firm emotional composure are the key elements to applying urgent first aid assistance.

Generally, first aid consists of series of simple, easy and life-saving actions and techniques that anyone can learn to perform. The procedures can be done with bare hands or with minimal equipment. When you suffer from an ordinary paper cut or from a severe burn, you will certainly need first aid. When several people around you incur puncture wounds, choke, suffer from food poisoning or have spurting cuts, of course, you should not just look around and awe yourself in amazement. Such situations call for heroic and noble acts. First aid is the most you could do to help patients while proper and professional medical assistance is on the way.

However, be reminded that first aid should not replace proper medical care. While there are some simple accidents and situations when first aid can completely do---like minor cuts, splinters, nose bleeds and insect bites---there are many medical situations and accidents that require professional medical attention. Snake bites, heart attacks, convulsions, high fever, fracture and seizures are just some of the numerous dangerous, yet immediate, situations that can be temporarily relieved by first aid, but are definitely calling for doctors’ intervention.

The key goal to every first aid action is to preserve life. As a quick and practical guide, first aid is almost always all about initially facilitating open airway. Unconscious patients are provided with artificial resuscitations, while conscious patients are relieved even temporarily of the discomfort they are feeling as proper first aid assistance from professionals are still being sought.