First Aid Training and Injury Prevention
It has been said that there is a definite relationship between first aid training and the prevention of injuries. Maybe this is because when people have knowledge they are more aware just like with birth control, once people were more knowledgeable unwanted pregnancy rates decreased. Once people became knowledgeable about AIDS more started to use condoms. There is a direct link between knowledge and prevention and it is likely that first aid training makes people more motivated to avoid injury.
First aid training not only teaches individuals how to treat injuries when they occur but also how to prevent them through health and wellness education. First aid courses through organizations that are well known such as the American Red Cross offer not only first aid training but also offer additional training in blood borne pathogens, oxygen administration, and injury prevention. While it is true that many injuries or accidents can not be avoided or foreseen, some actually can.
For example, first aid training will teach you how to treat sunburn but there are ways to prevent sunburn in the first place by simply using the correct sunscreen, covering up, or limiting your time in the sun. The same concept goes for frostbite although there are tragic incidents when it can not be prevented.
There are ways to prevent back injuries if you are aware of how to bend and lift, there are times when you could have prevented getting stung by that bee, and you could have worn your wrist guards, knee guards, and helmet while you were roller blading to avoid that broken wrist. To take this even a step further, there are things that you can do to prevent heart attacks and strokes too. They may still occur but these are attempts to prevent them from happening in the first place.
While first aid training is meant to teach people the necessary skills in the event of a medical emergency as well as prevention measures for the like there are still some areas that require a degree of common sense along with prevention that is not taught in first aid training such as leaving little toys and pieces of things on the floor that a small child can choke on, making sure that your child's toys are lead free, explore all safety tips prior to going sledding, boating, hiking, or even bike riding.
Certainly there will be incidents that are out of your control such as heart attacks, seizures, and car accidents, these things can usually not be prevented very often. Odds are that if more people were to take first aid training courses along with AED and CPR training in conjunction with taking preventative measures and using a bit more common sense, it is likely that the rates of injuries and fatalities would be significantly reduced.
That is all that society can really aim for is to arm themselves in case of an emergency and prevent those that are possibly preventable. Truly first aid training and injury prevention are essential life long skills that everyone should have.
