Emergency First Aid Guide and Home Medication Safety Instructions

What to do when an accident happens suddenly?

When a friend, relative, or colleague suffers a sudden accident or illness, experts remind you: In addition to immediately calling 120 (emergency services), taking necessary first aid measures will play a crucial role in the patient's treatment.

Cerebral hemorrhage:Turn the head to the side to prevent suffocation; transport the patient on a stretcher. Administer antihypertensive medication immediately. Do not move the patient unnecessarily. The patient's head should not be too high; turn it to one side. Apply an ice pack or cold towel to the forehead. Do not allow the patient to move.

Acute pancreatitis:Completely withhold food and seek immediate medical attention.

Alcohol poisoning:Do not use sedatives or induce vomiting with fingers. Immediately transport the patient to the hospital. Sedatives and induced vomiting can easily cause acute pancreatitis.

Cardiovascular accident:Act quickly; assist breathing. Perform 3-5 forceful blows to the precordial region. If the heartbeat and breathing do not return, perform artificial respiration. For patients with coronary heart disease experiencing angina, absolute bed rest is necessary, along with sublingual administration of nitroglycerin or other vasodilators.

Finger Cuts:Pinch both sides tightly and raise the finger above the heart. For minor cuts, clean the wound and apply a bandage. For longer, deeper cuts that haven't damaged bones or caused persistent bleeding, first bandage the wound with clean gauze, then pinch both sides of the base of the finger and raise it above the heart.

Burns (Physical or Chemical):Cool the affected area and clean repeatedly. For physical burns, use the coldest possible water to cool the area. For chemical burns, immediately remove clothing from the burned area to expose the affected area and rinse repeatedly with a weak alkali or acid of the opposite nature.

Fractures of the Hands, Feet, and Spinal Injuries: Properly immobilize the fracture. Find a long, fixed object (such as a board) and tie it to the fracture site, or tie the left leg to the right leg. If the spine is injured, do not move the patient unnecessarily; keep the injured person's body in a straight position at all times.

Precautions for Home Medication Use

The effects of medication should be viewed from two perspectives: While medications have a therapeutic effect, they can also cause adverse reactions. The following points should be noted when using medication at home:

Make a clear diagnosis and treat accordingly. For example, if a patient has a fever, first find out the cause; do not use antibiotics indiscriminately. For abdominal pain of unknown cause, never administer painkillers, as this will mask symptoms and delay treatment.

While making a clear diagnosis, it is important to understand any coexisting diseases and allergies. For example, asthma patients should find out if they have a history of hypertension; otherwise, using adrenaline for treatment may be dangerous. Patients with chronic liver disease should avoid using medications that are harmful to the liver to prevent further damage and worsening of their condition. Special caution should be exercised when using medication for people with allergies or a history of allergies.

Be aware of drug interactions. The purpose of using two or more drugs in combination clinically is to achieve better therapeutic effects. However, neglecting drug interactions can reduce the original efficacy of drugs or even cause adverse reactions. For example, sulfadiazine injections added to glucose solution will precipitate crystals after a short time; when using aminoglycoside antibiotics, simultaneous use of furosemide or ethacrynic acid can worsen damage to the auditory nerve; if chlorpromazine causes excessively low blood pressure, using adrenaline to raise blood pressure will not only fail to raise it but will also cause a sharp drop in blood pressure.

Dosage should not be arbitrarily increased or medication discontinued prematurely. Patients are eager to cure their illness and believe that more medication will lead to a faster recovery, but this is not the case. For example, the bactericidal concentration of penicillin is best at 5 to 10 times the minimum inhibitory concentration; concentrations higher than this do not increase bactericidal ability but instead increase toxicity. Premature discontinuation of medication is also a major cause of treatment failure. For example, tuberculosis treatment requires long-term medication, but some patients stop medication as soon as their symptoms improve, resulting in prolonged illness, wasting medication, and developing drug resistance, increasing the difficulty of treatment.