Even the 5-yr-olds can perform first aid: Study
By ANIMonday, February 28, 2011
WASHINGTON - A new study has found that kids as young as five are able to learn and perform basic first aid.
In the study, pre-school children at a kindergarten in Norway, were taught first aid using the ‘five-finger-rule’ system: look at the person, talk to them, touch them to try to wake them up, call emergency services, and lastly, stay and give comfort.
The children also learnt how to put each other into recovery position and how to keep an airway open.
“Two months later the children were still able to work out whether a person was unconscious or asleep and whether an accident victim was breathing,” said Georg Bollig from Department of Surgical Sciences, Haukeland University Hospital.
“The children could also remember the phone number of the emergency services and accurately describe their location,” he said.
In a separate test, when one of there teachers pretended to lose consciousness the children acted as a group to put her into recovery position.
“First aid training should begin in the kindergarten, via play, and be reinforced throughout school to increase confidence and encourage people to provide first aid should the need arise,” added Bollig.
The study was published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine. (ANI)
