It’s important for children to have some knowledge of the key teachings from a basic life support (BLS) course, so they can help others who are injured or even save lives in emergency situations. Children are an eager audience and are receptive to learning the skills they need to provide first aid help to others. The age of the kids you are teaching will give you a sense of how in-depth the lessons should be, with general basics discussed for younger ages and more advanced BLS training taught to older kids and adolescents. There are several online resources that adults can access to supplement basic first aid training for children, including course materials, worksheets, interactive websites, and videos.
Basic First Aid Skills:
When it comes to teaching BLS and first aid to kids, the primary material should cover these essential lessons:
How to treat wounds and proper bandaging techniques
How to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to victims, whether they are infants, children, or adults
How to treat choking victims of all ages
How to administer mouth to mouth resuscitation
How to handle blood and other bodily fluids
How to apply pressure to stop bleeding
How to administer an EPI Pen to someone who is having an anaphylactic allergic reaction
How to call for help
Why it’s important to have BLS skills
Accident and Injury Prevention:
Prevention measures are another important lesson to teach, so that children are aware of the proactive safety precautions they can take to prevent serious injury and reduce the need for using BLS techniques. Some of the key topics should include:
How to safely exit a dangerous or hazardous environment
How to safely approach a situation where first aid is needed
Completing activities that require safety measures, like biking or riding motorcycles with helmets, and the importance of seatbelts.
Fire prevention techniques and skills on navigating fires, such as how to test a door to see if there is a fire on the other side
Water safety skills, including boating safety and rescuing techniques
Ideas for Educating Kids:
When it comes to BLS training for children, there are a variety of tools that are useful in getting the message across in a way that’s easy for young minds to comprehend. Some ideas for educating kids on first aid include:
Watching demonstration videos so that children can see first aid techniques in action and gain a visual understanding of what they need to do in an emergency
A field trip or virtual tour of a hospital so they can see some of the emergency measures used, understand triage techniques, and see the importance of adhering to safety precautions first hand
A classroom visit from a nurse, firefighter, or Emergency Medical Technician to speak to kids on the importance of first aid, CPR, and other critical life-saving measures. These professionals will give kids an insight into some of the serious situations that may arise and teach children how to handle them.
Activities & Learning Materials:
As a complement to the first aid lessons that kids will learn, there are several supplementary materials to provide and some hands-on activities that they can complete to summarize their new knowledge and to educate other children around them. Some of the activities and learning materials associated with learning first aid are:
Providing kids with a basic first aid manual
Giving a list of items to include in a first aid kit
Having children create educational posters on BLS techniques, safety precautions, and how to handle dangerous situations
Creating classroom displays on safety tips and how to prevent accidents
Doing presentations on circumstances where BLS is needed
Practicing mock first aid techniques with partners
Writing essays or reports on how to respond to specific emergency situations and sharing with the class
Children can easily learn the BLS skills and lessons outlined here, which will help them to understand the importance of safety and give them the confidence to react calmly in emergencies. First aid lessons from the classroom will encourage kids to complete full BLS certification and will help turn children into responsible citizens.
Learn, Enjoy and Save Life. HealthForce Training Center offer services such as Basic Life Support (BLS), Advance Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS), Pediatric Advance Life Support (PALS), CPR AED, Pediatric First Aid CPR AEDand First Aid CPR AED. Read more of our blogs.
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