In an emergency situation, it is a natural human reaction to panic – especially when you or someone else is seriously injured. The dangerous situation evokes the instinctual “fight or flight” response in your brain. In this situation, your blood flow is diverted to your lungs, heart and legs so that you can run away or fight for your life. Adrenaline is released and this makes it very difficult to stay calm and think logically.

Responding quickly is very important in an emergency situation and a few minutes of panic can make a very big difference. This is why staying calm and reacting in the right way is so important when administering first aid at work or any situation. Luckily, having the right first aid training for the situation will help you to remain calm, refrain from panicking and deal with the situation correctly.

How Emergency Aid Training Helps

How does having workplace first aid & emergency training help you to react better in these situations? First of all, if you have undergone training, your workplace and your co-workers will likely be more prepared for a possible emergency. This means that you will be likely to have emergency equipment available and a process already in place – such as an evacuation plan or a number to call when something happens. This can really help, as you won’t have to use your adrenaline addled brain to think of what to do – you can just follow the steps already set out.

Also, when you have the appropriate training for the emergency situation, then performing CPR and other rescue skills will feel automatic and ingrained. You will have practiced it so many times in a training scenario that you will already feel familiar with the procedure. Many people have reported that in an emergency situation, they went into “autopilot” and their training took over, resulting in them carrying out the procedures they had been trained in without even thinking about them. This is why first aid training – as well as frequent refresher courses – is so important.

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Other Tips for Remaining Calm in an Emergency

Along with having the appropriate first aid training for your workplace or situation, here are some other tips that you can keep in mind to help yourself remain calm:

  • Breathe deeply. Your brain cannot function properly without oxygen, so make sure that you are breathing as slowly and deeply as possible.
  • If you are in an emergency situation and there are a lot of people standing around in shock or panicking, take control and tell them what they can do to help. Ask them to bring you supplies or call the ambulance.
  • Talk through what you are doing, it will help to calm you down as well as the victim. For example: “I’m just going to elevate your leg now to help stop the bleeding.”

To find out more about first aid training, please feel free to contact us at any time.

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