I am one of the University first aiders. I just thought it would be a good thing to be. And the first time I went up for my qualification, it was ok. But you have to renew this every few years, and the second time I went up I realised that the course instructor did the course word for word the same. The same material, the same examples, the same jokes. It basically was two days completely lost, but with a certificate at the end. Imagine how frustrating it is if you have to renew again. And then I heard through the grapevine that the course instructor had retired. Hooray!
Sometime ago I got an email saying that my qualification would expire again. There was opportunity for a refresher course in late November. I took it. And the location was special: it was the universities farm and research centre. I have been aware that this existed for a long time, but I had never been! And it's even so close by I can bike there.
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| Found it! |
When I approached the farm I heard some alarm go off. I didn't think much of it. But then I came around the corner and I saw a lot of people milling by a building. Maybe this was my course? They turned out that it was. So I had accidentally found the correct building. We couldn't quite get in yet.
Luckily, after a while someone appeared who could make the noise go away, and we could get in. After a cup of coffee we started. And the instructor first did a little bit of an introductions round; who were we, and why were we interested in first aid qualifications? We were all university employees, mostly from ocean sciences or natural sciences. I suppose we are the schools that do field trips. It's not as if you never need first aid in the building, but it is perhaps a bit less likely, and there will probably be other people you could call on. I trust all security people have first aid qualifications, for instance.
The person I know best was my colleague Ronan. We also had a research assistant there whose face I knew well, but who I have never really spoken with much. And then there were several familiar faces from natural sciences. It was quite nice to have a group like that. And we were quickly united in being a bit chilly. That converted farm barn was not easy to heat!
We didn't went through things such as Dr ABC. Soon after that we went outside to learn to put each other in the recovery position. We started out in all sorts of initial positions. He mainly made us think about: if you have to leave a patient, but will their tongue do, and what will happen if they vomit? If you have dealt with these questions, you are in the best position to run off and get help. On University trips, you'll probably never have to leave someone alone, but we might as well also think about situations in the outdoors outside work. There are plenty of places around where there is no phone signal.
We also spent quite some time on CPR. I thought that was good! Normally, they make you do half a minute on one of these dummies, and that's it. He had us go on for quite a while. He wanted us to know how it feels if you I have to keep doing it and doing it and doing it.
We also spend some time on diabetes, and stemming bleeding and bandaging wounds. That is probably a bit more applicable in field trips! You don't get many students in cardiac arrest. But you do get diabetic students, and those who end up with a cut or a graze.
Somewhere in the middle of all this we also had lunch. We didn't quite tackle all expected topics. He gave us some reading to do. That is stuff I have learnt again and again and again so I'm not nervous about that.
At the end of the day, I was quite happy. I had had a good day! This guy really added something to the material, and it would have been a nice group to work with. And the location was fab! This way I don't mind having to go up for renewal once in a while. So I'm up-to-date again, and it wasn't a drag!
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