First aid manual, 9th edition

St John Ambulance, St. Andrew's Ambulance Association, British Red Cross. Dorling Kindersley £12.99

9781405335379

A clear choice for all members of the team.

The front cover of this book just makes you want to pick it up and read it – always a good sign – the clear photos along with the authorisation from St John Ambulance, St Andrew's Association and the British Red Cross gave me the reassurance that this book was written with the views of the main market leaders in first aid. That these three societies are working together to raise standards in first aid can only help the dental team.

Not only is it well put together and easy to use, but its use as a manual in practice makes it an easy point of reference.

The contents pages depict 13 sections, each of which are colour coded so that you can navigate straight to the section you want easily – very effective.

This will be a great resource tool for my team.

The main sections of the first aid manual detail many injuries, conditions and treatments with a description, a guide to the signs and symptoms, and details of how to treat it. Most of these are a page long, but some are a little longer, and some occupy only half a page. There is also some other information such as how to deal with an incident and some very basic explanations about the working of the body where this is relevant to the first aid guidance. Colour photographs are used throughout the manual to show some of the key treatment information.

The First aid manual comes out as a clear choice for all members of the dental team to use as not only is it well put together and easy to use, but its use as a manual in practice makes it an easy point of reference. Any practice that has a qualified first aider in its team will be able to review all their responsibilities and use it for reminding themselves of their need to be up-to-date on the following:

  • Dealing with emergencies at work

  • Administering CPR

  • Administering first aid to unconscious casualties

  • Administering first aid to bleeding or wounded casualties

  • Administering first aid for scalds/burns, bone/muscle injuries, shock, eye injuries, poisonings, casualties overcome by gas or fumes

  • Safe transportation of casualties.

Sylvie Sturrock

We recently carried out our annual CPR training in practice and prior to the training session I reviewed the manual and it was the most up-to-date way of carrying out CPR. I was therefore pleased to know that now the hands on training can be supported with this in-house manual for practice meetings and training updates.

In my role as a practice manager and a dental tutor I am very confident that this will be a great resource tool for my team and my lessons with NVQ dental nursing students. I would recommend every practice to ensure they have a first aid manual that is up-to-date, especially for the medical emergencies that all staff should be aware of.

Also see the advice article on page 46 .