»Children should be thought about first aid, even if it meant another subject matter would be omitted because of that. Because you never know what might happen – people are losing their lives in catastrophes, and we should be prepared to help. As it is, we failed to give suitable education on this field to an entire generation!" Fani Čeh from the National Education Institute of the Republic of Slovenia explained.
There is no systematic education in first aid in secondary schools, unless through external providers for individual students who wish to obtain driving licence. When transferring from the eight-year to nine-year elementary school in 1999/2000 the 32-hour first aid course was discontinued as well.
These past days were dedicated to the World First Aid Day, during which a number of courses, activities, demonstrations of first aid were organized, but quite a number of warnings were given as well. The loudest spoke about the fact that drivers overestimate their skill in first aid, and that it is inadmissible that for future drivers only an exam is obligatory while a course is not, and that the knowledge acquired needs never be refreshed.
First aid as a living doctrine
"For years now we have been calling attention to the fact that the knowledge of first aid is based on practical skills which require continuous refreshing, in different age brackets," claim the representatives of the Ljubljana regional association of the Slovenian Red Cross (RKS-OZLJ). "It is inadmissible that a person can obtain a copy of his or her first aid exam from 30 years ago, or even more, without having to refresh his knowledge. Yet that is of utmost importance in first aid," they continue. Čeh agrees as well, and warns that the doctrine is changing: "We used to teach that during resuscitation 15 cardiac compressions are followed by four breaths; now we advise 30 compressions and two breaths," she explains.
We would help if we knew how...
AMZS the National Automobile Association of Slovenia in their newest folder, Help at Traffic Accidents – first 10 minutes are crucial, explain that by giving first aid at traffic accident in Slovenia the number of fatalities could be reduced, and 10,000 of serious injuries alleviated. They explain that in 90% of traffic accident the eyewitnesses first approach the injured, while the paramedics need from five to eight minutes to come to the scene of the accident in a city, and from 9 to 12 minutes if the accident happens in the countryside. In more than a half of the cases the severely injured die within a few minutes following the accident.
They emphasized the last research made in 14 European countries within the EuroTest consortium and with the cooperation of Red Cross. The results show that two thirds of the drivers do wish to help and give first aid, but only 18% of them know what exactly should be done. More than 71% of the respondents didn't know the correct way of checking the condition of an injured persons, and the practical test showed that more than four fifth of the drivers didn't know the correct procedure for resuscitation of injured persons, using cardiac compressions and artificial respiration.
... or we are too scared
"Everybody must help when witnessing a traffic accident if needed, save a life, prevent hazard for other participants of the road traffic, or an ecological disaster," reads the Law on Safety in Road Traffic. "Whoever fails to help a person in direct mortal danger, although he/she could have done it without any risk for himself/herself or somebody else, will be punished by terms of imprisonment up to one year," as defined by Article 130 of the Penal Code regarding withdrawal of help.
Yet a number of people are afraid to help. AMZS gave five most frequent reasons for hesitation listed by witnesses to traffic accidents: they are afraid of doing something wrong; they don't have the necessary knowledge; they are not experienced enough, they are scared of blood or infection, and they fear the injured might sue them.
The last written reason has been mentioned often, therefore we verified the actual situation. "Lawsuits against people giving first aid are only uncommon reaction of people to uncommon events. In Slovenia injured people are not entitled to any restitution due to inexpert treatment by the person who helped them, as giving first aid is the moral and legal obligation of every citizen," RKS-OZLJ told MMC.
We contacted the Police as well, and they explained that they are not informed of "any cases where a person would be punished for giving inexpert medical aid".
Relevant offices sparing with words
And why doesn't the law demand refreshing of first aid skills? We addressed our question to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning. The answer MMC received was that as a rule all the certificates (eg. Medical certificate, certificate of passing a theoretical part of the exam) defined by the Act on Drivers have a limited validity, therefore some obligations must be fulfilled when a person has to acquire anew a driving licence, or expand the validity of his driving licence.
"Law on Drivers does not define that the course and exam from first aid should be repeated when a person has to acquire anew a driving licence, or wishes to expand the validity of the existing driving licence," they explained, and added that this field belongs under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health, which also defines the conditions for first help training, the programme for first aid exam, and the manner of keeping records of first aid exams.
Why do you estimate that the renewal of the acquired knowledge is not necessary, and the validity of the first help exam has no limits? It was the question we posed to the relevant ministry. "Ministry of Health is of course supporting the courses for renewal of first aid knowledge, but organisation of such courses of course depends on financing. If Red Cross organized such courses free of charge, we would see no impediments and would support such activities," was their answer.