Reflections on a busy 2 weeks
With the business offering, I have, it is interesting that I seem to go through phases of training different topics. So, the last couple of weeks has certainly been First Aid time… and I am very grateful to a couple of fellow tutors who have helped me out so that we could put on some extra courses for a client. It has been great to meet those who work with children, adults and indeed in emergency situations. Some common themes have emerged across these courses, and I thought it would be useful to reflect on these.
One of the discussions as come up quite a lot is that things change and when considering First Aid how important it is to keep your knowledge up to date. Indeed, the same is true of many of the courses I run - particularly safeguarding.
On my First Aid courses, I talk about the work of the Resuscitation Council and suggest you regularly check for updates from there. I often say in my first aid courses that I hope that most of what you learn, you will not need to use… because you will not find yourself in a situation where – for example - someone stops breathing. However, if you do come across an emergency, it could be two years and six months after your certificate has been issued… so I would encourage anyone with a First Aid certificate to keep up to date. As well as the websites mentioned on the course, I also have a suite of videos you can use to review your learning on my YouTube channel, Jill Webb Training. I'm planning to add to these over the summer, so keep visiting it!
Another common theme that comes up - particularly for my clients that work in schools or early years settings – is that in an emergency there can be too many people around rather than too few… I really encourage settings to look at their emergency plan… have you thought so what would happen if there was an accident in one classroom or one room within your setting? How would you manage the children that are not directly involved how do you make sure that they are safely, looked after while caring for the casualty? We often have good discussions about this and I'm always happy to give advice.
Particularly when thinking about first aid for children. There are also good discussions around the role of the first aid for children and the role of the first aid for staff.
Someone really usefully explained this to me as - your Paediatric First Aid covers the requirement for children under OFSTED – your First Aid at Work covers the requirements under the Health and Safety Executive to have a safe work place. These decisions are, of course, based on your first aid risk assessment which looks at the number of First Aiders needed and the sort of First Aid equipment you should have. If I can be of any help with this, please
A final reminder – please make sure you book to renew your first aid certificate in plenty of time.
