What is the relationship between poisoning and accidental first aid?

In essence, poisoning itself is one of the most common accidental first aid scenarios. The specification of poisoning first aid is an important part of the modern accidental first aid system, and the general handling principles of accidental first aid are the core underlying logic of all poisoning scene treatment.

I have been doing pre-hospital emergency care for almost 6 years. Last month I just picked up an old man who went to pick wild mushrooms in the mountains to eat. At first, his family just thought it was a normal stomachache and gave him antiemetics and anti-inflammatory drugs. By the time we arrived, he was already jaundiced. When we asked, we found out that the whole family thought the poisoning was a minor matter and not an accident that required emergency treatment. It took more than 4 hours, and then he was sent to the ICU and it took him 3 days to stabilize. In fact, this misunderstanding is quite common. Many people do not classify poisoning as an accident that requires immediate start of first aid procedures. They always think that they should either drink some hot water to relieve the pain, or pick their throat to induce vomiting. It is precisely this understanding that delays a lot of golden rescue time.

The boundaries between the two have been discussed during previous academic exchange meetings in the industry. Many colleagues doing toxicology research believe that poisoning first aid is too special and should be separated from ordinary accidental first aid for systematic science popularization. After all, home poisonings such as accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms and accidentally taking cleaning agents From chemical leakage to carbon monoxide poisoning and other poisonings associated with public accidents, the handling logic of different situations is very different. It is easy for ordinary people to misunderstand the general accident first aid rules. There have been cases in the past where parents induced vomiting in children who accidentally took toilet cleaning liquid, resulting in secondary burns to the child's esophagus. However, some colleagues who do grassroots science popularization feel that there is no need to split it up. Ordinary people cannot remember too much professional knowledge. As long as they remember the core principles of accidental first aid: "get out of danger first, then reduce secondary injuries, and send to the hospital as soon as possible." When encountering poisoning, don't use earthwork or feed things randomly, you can avoid 90% of pitfalls. In fact, there is nothing wrong with both statements, but they are aimed at different groups of people. The former is a training requirement for us practitioners, while the latter is a popular science guide for ordinary residents.

If you have to ask me to give an analogy, first aid for accidents is like the basic set of bandages, iodine, and respiratory masks in our first aid kit, which can be used in any scenario. First aid for poisoning is the box of activated charcoal, burn gel, and special antidote that are placed separately in it. They are rarely used in daily life. If you encounter the corresponding situation, big trouble may occur if it is missing.

A while ago, when I was doing science popularization in the community, someone asked me, if someone commits suicide by drinking pesticides, should they just go to the first aid for poisoning? In fact, it is not that simple. Many people who drink pesticides are often emotionally agitated and may have self-inflicted wounds. You must first control the scene and deal with the trauma according to the logic of ordinary accident first aid, and then prepare for poisoning-related vomiting and gastric lavage. Otherwise, the pesticide will be choked into the lungs when the person struggles, which will be more troublesome. If you work in this field for a long time, you will find that there is no completely independent first aid scenario. Many accidents may be accompanied by poisoning. For example, the injured in fires often suffer from inhalation poisoning, and the driver in a car accident may have an accident caused by drunk driving or overdose. Only by linking the logic of the two can we really help people during the golden rescue time.