should first aid be taught in schools?

I just had this thought while reading another thread. Should we teach kids some basic first aid/emergency response skills in schools?

I think that it would be a good idea. Maybe do it at the Junior High/early High school level. The kids would need to be old enough to make decisions about what to do but it should be taught early enough that they can have the knowledge to use it to their benefit from earlier on.

Make it include things like CPR, treating minor to major cuts and abrasions, properly identifying things like seizures and heart attacks, maybe basics of making splints for broken bones. Just stuff to help if they know that an ambulance will take a while or the hospital is far away.

Thoughts?

in the 2 high schools i went to that was mandatory

Sure! It's a great idea. I would add psychoself-defense. To protect the kids against the darkside sharks.

I am honestly surprised it is not. There are alot of things school should teach...but don't.

First Aide/CPR & ....the other one that currently escapes my sleep deprived brain right now

Sex (PROPER sex education....not the crap that is taught) & Relationship Education including Pregnancy/Birth & Child raising.

How to set up bank accounts, rent apartments, maintain finances, do taxes, vote, Driver Licence......ect ect.....you know....real life skills.

RyuJin wrote: in the 2 high schools i went to that was mandatory

Where was that? Do you know if it was a state, county, or school district policy? Neither of my high schools required it and I wish that they had. I have some first aid knowledge just from getting and seeing enough cuts and scrapes growing up doing martial arts but I'd rather have had more formal training.

i must have went to 2 really progressive high schools...because most of those were taught

Goken wrote:

RyuJin wrote: in the 2 high schools i went to that was mandatory

Where was that? Do you know if it was a state, county, or school district policy? Neither of my high schools required it and I wish that they had. I have some first aid knowledge just from getting and seeing enough cuts and scrapes growing up doing martial arts but I'd rather have had more formal training.

citrus high school, citrus county fl
hudson high school, pasco county fl

at citrus it was school policy...but citrus also had midterm and semester exams, 7 classes a day (when i went there it had the highest graduation rate in the state 98%)...in all it was a really good school which was surprising considering how small the community was...

at hudson i think it was a district thing due to high teen pregnancy rates and other negative factors...i was so far ahead of the rest of my graduating class that i did nothing for a year and a half and still graduated with a 4.0 gpa

My highschool was a private, international school that taught alot of classes that weren't "Normal" but never taught any first aide or anything else I listed.

As a (former) First Responder, I appreciate the idea. First Aid is a skillset that everyone should know. Especially those whose occupations lead them through unsafe places. I have received training both in the Military, and via the Fire Department. I still, to this day, have a MedPack that goes with me to various events.

Having said all that, here's why we don't see it, imo, taught on a larger scale.

First, and foremost, Legal/Financial reasons. Although many places have a variation of a "Good Samaritan Law", which shields aid attempts as "unassaible" in court, many places have no such protection. In the unfortunate realities of this Day, (speaking soley for America), "Thanks for saving me, now I'm gonna sue you" is altogether too real a scenario. "No good deed goes unpunished."
In many places, rendering medical aid requires "Yearly Certification". Again, more protectively bureaucratic than I'd like. It is there to insure the practitioner is applying the "Current Best Known Practices". If you've ever looked at the history of CPR training guides, you'll see the CPR of a decade ago is not the CPR of today.

Today's schools and Institutions, (in general) are already treading water just trying to get basic biology, STD awareness, and ensuring student safety, that getting them "used to the idea of working with body fluids is either impractical, or can't be done in a way that meets the needs of the training. "Proper" modern first aid requires a lot of one-time-use materials (gloves/masks/bandages, ect) that is unfortunately not feaseable for modern school budgets. Think of a simple CPR dummy..$400. Multiply times a minimum# for a single class. Add the Expense/Training of a Certified Instructor.

As a skill, I would go so far to say that First Aid is Mushashi's "Sword that gives life", and should be at least considered by a Jedi. A private individual (forewarned, and foreamed) with the required knowledge can best serve their fellow human.

For Schools, I believe that, although *ldeal*, it is simply too daunting.

i started with a med kit and have been adding to it...now it resembles a portable hospital :lol:

it's too big to carry everywhere so at some point i'm going to have to reorganize another small med kit...at least i have the supplies to do it...