What happened at my recent first aid course in Milton Keynes?

Well, there’s never a dull moment on my first aid courses but I must confess I hadn’t expected someone to faint! Fortunately I’m trained in what to do so if you carry on reading I’ll tell you how to treat a casualty who has fainted, what care they will need and how to find an underlying cause.

Can I learn this on an emergency first aid at work course?

Yes, absolutely. The Emergency First Aid at Work or EFAW course lasts for one day and first aid for fainting is always covered because it happens regularly, in fact there’s a high chance that you may have fainted yourself at some point – I know I have! One of my favourite faints was at my local GP surgery where I had an appointment for a blood test. I asked the nurse how many vials she was going to take and she said, quite matter-of-factly, ‘Six.’ Six? I thought. Surely I was going to need some for the rest of the day, if not longer.

Well, anyway, she was about half way through helping herself to the very stuff that keeps us all alive when she said, ‘Ooh.’ Now if this ever happens to you, above all, don’t look at your arm. I won’t describe what happened but suffice to say, she’d missed the canula and blood was exiting my body in an uncontrolled way so, in a very manly fashion, I fainted.

I’d managed to get myself into a more suitable position when I realised I was ‘going’ so I came to quite quickly. Another nurse materialised and asked, ‘Who’s blood is all this?’

‘It’s Guy’s,’ came the answer, whereupon I fainted again and came to quickly again, because the thing about fainting is, as far as I can tell from my own experience, our brains don’t like what is happening to us in the moment so they shut us down for a few seconds. People rarely stay unconscious for a long time when this happens but if they do and it’s a more serious condition, you can read here about when to call 999: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/urgent-and-emergency-care-services/when-to-call-999/

I remember after that experience that my peripheral vision was black for about an hour, possibly because I’d been bled dry by my nurse. I never thought to check if she was Romanian and related to Count Dracula but luckily I felt fine later on that morning so the incident was soon regulated to the back of my mind.

Over in Milton Keynes I was running an Emergency First Aid at Work course and talking about bandaging wounds. I always leave this until the afternoon now – I didn’t early on in my career – so that people can have their lunch ahead of time and they have plenty of sugar in their blood and don’t pass out. Even the idea of wounds can get to some people – the idea and the pictures they conjure up in their minds can often be far worse than the real thing. Amputations and de-glovings (I’m not going to define the latter: look it up if you want to but be warned!) are pretty nasty but I was going through minor wounds, abrasions (commonly called grazes) and suddenly a voice told me weakly, ‘I don’t feel well and my vision has gone dark.’

Instantly I was back in my surgery in Leighton Buzzard being drained dry by Nosferatu but I soon snapped out of that. ‘Get on the floor for me please,’ I told the young lady and semi-caught her as she fell into my arms. A big danger of fainting is literally how far we fall and the damage an impact can have, even if we’re sitting in a chair, so I helped my student down and immediately raised her feet onto the chair she’d been sitting on.

Don’t we use the Recovery Position for fainting?

I believe we used to and it’s not wrong given the dangers posed by the tongue flopping onto the back of the airway during unconsciousness. If the casualty is obviously becoming conscious and breathing easily though, it’s best to elevate their feet on whatever is to hand, in this case a chair, to encourage blood flow back to the head and brain. If you’ve ever seen someone faint you’ll probably remember how pale they were when it happened. Elevating the feet is simply trying to make the reverse happen.

The lady in question lost consciousness for a very short time indeed. I didn’t even have time to reach for my mobile phone and prepare to call 999. I asked most of the other students to leave the room for a few minutes in order not to embarrass the patient and I also asked one lady to stay and help. Then it was time for SAMPLE.

What does SAMPLE stand for?

SAMPLE is an acronym I learnt many years ago and is what I have used most in my time as a first aider. It stands for:

• Signs and Symptoms Do you know the difference between a sign and a symptom? The former is something you can see, for example, blood, sweat, a pale face, blue lips (also known as cyanosis) etc… and a symptom is something you might have to ask about. The morning after my wife has been drinking Prosecco at a Christmas party I’m pretty sure she’ll feel sick, but I won’t know until she offers the information herself or she starts projectile vomiting. If it’s the latter it’s now a sign because I can see, not to mention smell it. This has, of course, never happened and I’m just using my imagination for my blog. Where’s the winking emoji when I need it?
• Allergies. Does our patient have any allergies? Are they serious enough to cause anaphylactic shock? Read more on this here. If so that’s an immediate 999 call because it can be life-threatening in a very short time.
• Medication. Are they taking any medication? Everything we take has side effects and their current condition could be as a result of what they’re taking. I shouldn’t really say this but sometimes I think it’s better not to read the leaflet that accompanies our medication because my wife was once very concerned that she would develop a hairy tongue as it was listed as one of the side effects of some antibiotics she’d been prescribed. I told her to have another glass of Prosecco and not worry about it. Besides, if she did develop a hairy tongue she would be hearing from a divorce lawyer in very short order. Also, has the patient been taking their medication regularly or as they are supposed to? Could they have accidentally overdosed even, because they weren’t paying attention to how much they were taking?
• Past History. Has this happened before? Are there any similarities between then and now? About 10 years ago I helped a lady out who had fainted just inside the doors of a shop in Milton Keynes shopping centre. It wasn’t safe to keep her there because of the number of people coming in and out who were paying more attention to what was on the shelves rather than who was on the floor. Along with another bystander I helped her into a pharmacy conveniently located a couple of doors away.I explained I was a first aider and how, whilst she was recovering, I wanted to ask her a few questions. I took her gently through the above and when I got to Past History I asked if she’d ever fainted before. She said yes, last time she was pregnant. I asked if she could be pregnant again because she wasn’t showing and she told me she was. ‘So, could it be the same thing, do you think?’ I asked and she replied that she was sure it was. I asked her if she wanted me to call 999 but she assured me it wasn’t necessary. She called a friend who lived locally and who came to pick her up right away and that evening she texted me to say she was feeling much better and thanks for my help.
• Last Meal. Now this doesn’t mean they’re about to have their last meal, rather when did they eat last? It’s particularly important for people who have diabetes as their blood sugar can crash very quickly and they can end up unconscious, but also, it’s not unusual to see people pass out at the gym.With our hectic lifestyles it’s very easy for people to skip meals and go to the gym with very few calories in them. Then they burn away what little fuel they have and end up feeling lightheaded or worse. I once saw a lady step off a running machine and faint immediately. That’s why I don’t go on running machines. That and the fact that my body complains. Stick me in a lake or the sea and tell me to swim miles and off I’ll go, but running seems to be beyond me these days. I digress: my patient that day was quite groggy but she managed to tell me she was of the Muslim faith and that it was the holy month of Ramadan where Muslim people do not eat during the day. Well I’d heard about this of course but not eating was a long way above my bravery scale so I was quite impressed at this lady’s self-discipline. Fortunately there is scope during Ramadan for eating in emergencies such as these as this article explains. I quote directly from this article that ‘it should be a spiritual challenge but not a threat to one’s health’, so the lady took on board some carbs and was accompanied home.
• Events. What were the events leading up to them being taken ill? Early on in my career I taught a one-day first aid course on a Saturday to a crew of builders from Hemel Hempstead. I’d rented a function room at the end of a corridor in a local church and chairs were stacked the length of it. One of the crew had failed to turn up for the kick off at 9am but we had a lot to cover so I started regardless. The chap sauntered in half an hour later pausing on his way into the room to scowl down at me from an impressive 6 foot 5 inches in height. I’m known for a lot of things but I’m not tall or brave so I didn’t say anything in return as he took his seat. I’d noticed a keen odour of cigarettes as he’d come in though and it wasn’t pleasant. I started talking about wounds and bleeding and within no time at all he was back on his feet and running out the door.We heard a crash from the corridor and I guessed that this chap, Martin, had fainted. I tried to get his colleagues to go out and elevate his feet as we’d covered fainting some minutes before but none of them moved. That’s a lie: one chap, by the name of Pete, got up but he just switched the kettle on and used the interruption to make himself a cuppa. So I went out and lifted Martin’s feet onto one of the chairs he’d so carelessly knocked over. I went through SAMPLE right up to Events, ascertaining that his last meal, ‘breakfast’, had been 5 cigarettes smoked back to back. ‘Anything else?’ I asked casually. ‘Well I got to bed at 4:30am,’ he told me sheepishly, ‘after 12 pints of Stella.’ He was then driven home by a colleague. This was many years ago and I often wonder if he’s still with us, given the way he treated his body.

That’s SAMPLE anyway and I used it again in Milton Keynes when my patient had recovered enough to answer a few gentle questions. This time I locked onto Last Meal and it wasn’t cigarettes. Most of the students had brought their own lunch but being a busy mum this lady had sorted her children out at the expense of herself. She’d popped to the local store during our lunch break and had bought a duck wrap. It had apparently tasted so bad she’d thrown half of it in the bin but in the hour between lunch and her being taken ill she had begun to feel worse and worse until she collapsed.

‘I feel sick,’ she told me weakly from the floor, at which point I left her with the other lady and ran into the adjacent catering school for a washing up bowl. The moment I put it next to her mouth she threw up the duck wrap and soon announced that she felt much better. I gave her the option of going home but she was having none of that because she was a mum. She sat back down on her chair, the colour returned to her cheeks and she completed the course.

So there really is never a dull moment in my courses and I do try and keep everyone entertained as well as making sure they achieve the correct standards. If this kind of course is something you think would interest you, your friends or colleagues please contact me.

My First Aid Course Reviews

I’ve received some wonderful feedback from the lovely people I’ve taught in Milton Keynes. Here are a few below. You can see more testimonials on my Google page:

• Best first aid instructor in Milton Keynes
• Guy is great, very clear, answered questions with patience and left us all feeling more confident with first aid. Those in Milton Keynes, definitely go with Guy!
• Absolutely brilliant. Really interesting and find Guy’s style of teaching engaging and insightful.
• Excellent teaching and had fun activities , was very helpful to learn this course.