Back to articles

St John Ambulance strongly believes that everybody should know the basics of First Aid. It isn’t time consuming to learn, yet it can help save many lives each year. Even in these few minutes it takes you to read through our guide, you could learn enough to be able to save someone’s life.

Common first aid misconceptions- and what you should really do!

1. You should apply cream or butter on a burn. You should only ever put running cold water onto a burn. Keep it there for at least 10 minutes
2. “If I can’t move a limb, it must be broken”or “If I can move a limb, it can’t be broken”. The only way to truly know if a limb is broken is to have an x-ray done.
3. The best method of treating bleeding is to put the cut under a running tap. However, if you do this then you rinse away the clotting agents from your body and thus will result in heavier bleeding. Instead, apply pressure on the wound.
4. Moving the head back is the best way of treating nosebleeds. If you do this, then the blood runs down the back of the airway. The best choice of action is to actually tilt their heads forward, so that the blood is emptied out of the nostrils. Advise the person to pinch their nose and to only use their mouth to breathe.
5. If a person has consumed poison, then you should make them vomit. However, sticking your fingers down their throat may lead to their airway being blocked.  Also if the poison caused damage to their throat on the way down, it will burn on the way up. Seek medical advice immediately; in the meantime, try to find out when, what time and how much poison had been taken.
6. Performing CPR on someone who has a pulse can cause damage to their heart. There is evidence to support that actually, the opposite is true, and that it is safe to do chest compressions on someone with a pulse.
7.  You need lots of training to do first aid. This is false- basic first aid learnt in several minutes is enough to save a life.
8. You need lots of expensive equipment to do first aid. No equipment is required to do first aid and there are many ways to improvise anything you may need.

In the workplace or office, all employers are responsible by law for meeting the first aid needs of their employees. We have all the first aid equipment you will need.