BushwalkBushwalkIn every first aid situation, follow the simple acronym DRSABCD.
By following each letter, we remember each step to take to ensure that we’re safe and attend to the highest priority issues first. DRSABCD is the core first aid protocol.
DRSABCD stands for:
Ensure the safety of yourself, others and the patient - in that order. If you get injured then you can't help (and there maybe no one to help you), if others get injured it is harder to provide first aid to all.
Where possible remove the danger from the person (eg put up a tent to protect them from the cold). If you can not move the danger, move the person from the danger if safe to do so (eg if a person slips and falls into a creek).
If the situation is too dangerous to remove the injured person, do your best to keep monitoring the situation to prevent harm to others and look for opportunities for safe rescue if situations change & call for help.
Once safe, then;
Check for response - ask for their name - squeeze shoulders.
This is testing for consciousness to see if their brain if funtioning normally. If there’s a normal response, check for injuries and monitor response.
If they respond in an unusual way (eg if they respond with 'Tuesday', to 'what is your name?', and they do not have a hearing impairment) then manage as if they are unconscious.
If there is no response or an unusual response then cotninue to through the protocol.
If a person in not fully conscious or is experiencing some other threat to life (or disability) then we want to call for help as soon as possible.
Ask bystanders to call for help whilst you continue through your first aid protocols.
To call for help:
First, try phoning Triple Zero (000), ask for an ambulance.
If there is no reception and no other nearby options for communicating with emergency services then trigger your PLB.
Roll unresponsive person carefully on their side (into the recovery position)
Clear their airway by opening their mouth, looking inside and removing any potential obstruction
Open the airway by tilting head with chin lift.
Check for breathing, look, listen and feel.
If breathing is normal, keep them in the recovery position, monitor breathing, manage injuries and treat for shock.
If not normal breathing, start CPR.
If breathing is not normal and the person is not responsive then start CPR.
Do 30 chest compressions in 15 seconds (almost two compressions per second).
If you are trained in CPR then also do two two rescue breaths after each round of chest compressions.
Repeat and continue until help arrives.
In a remote area, help is likely to take a signficant amount of time.
Ask bystanders to;
help get padding under your knees,
help and take turns in providing CPR.
Use a tent fly and build a sheter to protect from wind and rain.
Chest compressions are the most important part of CPR. The Australian and New Zealand Committee on Resuscitation (ANZCOR) make the following recommendations:
1. All rescuers should perform chest compressions for all persons who are unresponsive and not breathing normally.
2. Interruptions to chest compressions should be minimised.
3. Those who are trained and willing to give rescue breaths do so for all persons who are unresponsive and not breathing normally.
If available, send someone to fetch the nearest defibrillator. Defibrillators are marked with a green and white "AED" (automatic external defibrillator) sign.
Attach the defibrillator pads as indicated and follow the voice prompts.
Defibrillators are still very rare in wilderenss settings but are starting to apear in some remote buildings. Keep an eye out for AED signs.