Medicine 2 Life » First Aid

Burns – Causes, Treatment and Precautions and Tips

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:32:00 +0000

POST DETAILS: Introduction about burns and types, important things related to burns, complications, when to contact the doctor, things to be remembered and its prevention and suggestions.

What are burns?
Burns are nothing but damage to the skin caused by fire, electricity, heat, radiation or chemical reactions.

What is the first-aid treatment for the burns?
The first and foremost thing you have to do is to stop the extent of damage to skin and prevent the burn from becoming still worse.

Burns are classified into 3 types:
First degree burns – in this type the skin is painful, red, and sensitive to touch and damaged skin is moist due to leakage of fluid from deeper layers of skin
Second degree burns – in this type there is an appearance of blisters on skin and damage for skin is much deeper when compared to first degree. Here also skin is sensitive and painful.
Third degree burns - in this type all 3 layers of skin are dead and blisters are not found here. The burned skin lacks sensation and due to damage to nerves there are no pain sensations. Skin graft is necessary here in these burns.

3 important points to be remembered here are:
1) Place the burned area (skin) under running water (cold) and note that water must not be too cold.
2) The above procedure must be kept even for 1 hour or more until the pain stop.( it is beneficial if continues for 4 hours)
3) Note that first degree burns (like sun burn) doesn’t require the above procedure.

What are the complications?
1) The burned skin is more prone to infections as it loses the ability to protect the body. So we have to clean the damaged skin thoroughly in the first six hours while it is healing.
2) Scarring can occur due to severe burns.
3) In sever burns body loses high quantity of fluid which is a disturbance for blood circulation. So fluid and salt balances should be maintained well.

Things you must know regarding which burns need treatment by health physicians.
1) All third degree burns and most second degree burns are to be taken immediately to doctor.
2) Burns on hands, neck, face and groin. Burns bigger than size of the palm.

Two Things to be remembered:
1) Never apply any ointment on burns and water is the best and only thing to be used.
2) Never forget to have a tetanus injection if you have not had a booster dose for last 10 years.

How to prevent burns and any suggestions?
As it is rightly said “Prevention is better than cure”
1) In a house kitchen is the most prone area where burns can occur easily due to simple accidents. So buy a fire-extinguishing blanket and keep in the kitchen room where it is easily accessible.
2) While cooking please see that children are away from that cooking area.

I hope you liked this post. Do you know any tips to prevent burns at home? Or any remedies for the burns? Please comment so that other readers of this blog are benefited.

First-aid kit for basic health problems: Must know

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:04:00 +0000

First-aid kit is very essential for any person at any time especially while traveling to unknown places. These precautions sometimes can save lives and also with out these sometimes we people losing their lives. So I feel that every person must at least have some basic knowledge regarding the first-aid kit for basic health problems.

Basic Health problems which most people suffer are:

Fever, pain, coughs, sore throat, constipation or indigestion, diarrhea, sun burns, motion sickness, insect bites, grazes and cuts.

Now let’s see briefly regarding the first aid kits that must be taken for each problem separately:

Pain

1) Paracetamol, Aspirin, Ibuprofen medicines which are available at the counters in several forms like tablets, soluble tablets and liquids etc. they can be used for minor pains and aches like headache, muscle pain, and toothache.

2) Note that doses for children are lower when compared to adults so be careful and also note that aspirin must not be given to children below 16 years.

Fever

1) For fever thermometer is a must in first-aid kit and if you have digital thermometer (oral) well and good.

2) Fever can be relieved by ibuprofen and paracetamol.

3) Note that fever is mostly caused by viruses where the use of antibiotics may not help so after using the first-aid medicine mentioned above consult the doctor immediately to get it confirm whether it is viral or bacterial cause and take appropriate medications.

Coughs and sore throats

1) Cough mixtures and sore throat lozenges are common medications that can deal with these problems so make sure they are in your kit.

2) Note that cough mixtures contain some ingredients that are not safe for children especially under six years so consult the physician and get the appropriate medicines for children and place them in your first-aid kit.

Constipation or indigestion and diarrhea

1) For diarrhea loperamide is a good medicine to be in your first-aid kit but not suitable for children.

2) If both vomiting and diarrhea occur, make sure that patient must take enough liquids and it is very important in case of children.

3) There is also necessary for rehydration medicine to prevent dehydration like dioralyte.

4) Constipation is the most common problem faced when traveling so a mild laxative is very helpful.

5) Antacid preparation is necessary for people who are suffering from heartburn or indigestion (when eating spicy foods).

Motion sickness

1) This is also a most common problem faced while traveling on roads, air and sea travel so get tablets to prevent motion sickness before starting your journey.

Insect bites

1) Soothing lotions like calamine and antihistamines are good in controlling the itching of insect stings or bites.

2) Better take an insect repellant when you are going to a new area in your first-aid kit because there may be mosquitoes and others which are very dangerous in spreading diseases easily.

Grazes and cuts

1) Water proof or fabric plasters are very useful.

2) Gauze swabs or cotton gauze for covering and drying wounds.

3) Saline (sterile) to clean wounds.

4) Adhesive tapes – permeable ones ( to hold the dressings)

5) Antiseptics either in cream or lotion form.

6) Bandages (gauze)

Sun burns

1) You must apply a sun block before you get exposed to sun and it should be in your kit.

2) Note that you must consult your physician or pharmacist to know appropriate sun protecting factor.

After seeing the above list you might get a doubt whether is it possible to maintain all these items in first-aid kit. For this my advice is that the items in the kit depends on the time and travel you make for your journey. It’s better to buy small size products to make it fit in your kit bag. Also note the expiry dates of the medication which is very essential.

If you are traveling to any under developed area it is better to take extensive kit along with some syringes, disposable needles and tablets for water purification which may not be available in those areas.

Did you find this post useful? Please comment if you have any doubts.

First aid tips for breathing difficulties : Must know

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:18:00 +0000

Post details: first aid tips and procedures during breathing difficulties and problems.

First aid is very important and essential skill which everyone must know. This can help you in saving lives by following simple and basic procedures before you get help from a person from medical profession.

In this article I have collected some best first aid methods and tips for breathing difficulty situations which is a very common problem faced by people of all ages.

If you find a person who stopped breathing, just touch his shoulder or talk to him and see whether he replies or not and if he doesn’t reply call for ambulance and start the following first aid.

1) First and foremost thing you must do is to place that person on his/her back on the floor.
2) Next thing you must do is to see that tongue is not obstructing the throat. So for this you have to tilt the head and see that chin is facing upwards. This can be done by keeping your fingertips under jawbone and lifting it gently and simultaneously pressing down softly on his/her forehead.
3) After this you have to check breathing by keeping your ears near his mouth to hear for breathing sounds or check the person’s chest if it is rising and falling.
4) If you find that breathing is normal then you can continue in maintaining the persons head position as said before and if there is no sign of breathing then go for artificial breathing procedure.

Now you may get a doubt regarding the artificial breathing and for this I would like to suggest you some best methods to perform that procedure.

1) Lift up the persons chin and tilt his head back.
2) Close the nostrils with your two fingers and see that there is no leakage of air.
3) Next take a deep breath and place your mouth over the person’s mouth and slowly breathe into his mouth.
4) This may take about 2 to 3 seconds to inflate his chest and do this for two times.
5) After this you have to check whether his chest is rising as you breathe into the person’s mouth and if you find that there is resistance then lit the chin again and hold the head back further and again do the same procedure.
6) Keep doing this until you get help from the ambulance or medical professional.