Why do doctors need to do first aid training?

Is this one of life’s most puzzling mysteries? It can be when you think about it!

Why do doctors need to do first aid training? (Believe it or not, they do!)

The first puzzling thing about this question is that most doctors do a 6-year degree which is all about the human body, how it works and what to do when something bad happens to it, like a disease or an accident.

So if they study an enormous amount of information about the human body and are very, very knowledgeable about it, why are they actually required to do first aid training? And for that matter, why are nurses and other medical personnel required to do first aid training?

First aid for doctors is no accident

For a start, a lot of what doctors study in their medical training is all about disease and how to treat people who are sick and unwell from disease. And while they do understand exactly what happens to the human body when you suffer a heart attack, a stroke, break your leg, nearly drown or get bitten by snake, accidents are NOT diseases.

Also, have you ever noticed when you are in hospital who comes around and changes the dressings on your wounds? Is it the doctor? No generally it’s a nurse!

Apart from the fact that it’s cheaper for a hospital to pay a nurse to change dressings than doctors, it’s also true that unless they are general practitioners, doctors might are not as “hands on” in their day-to-day work as nurses are.

So, despite all their medical training, doctors don’t necessarily get trained in how to do CPR for example as that is a skill specific to first aid training, not medical training. Or if they did, it might have been 20 years since they learnt it and have forgotten how to do it.

They might also have not been trained on how to use an AED. Or a dozen other things that are taught in a first aid course.

Do nurses need to do first aid training too?

The same is often true of nurses and other medical professionals. Just like many medical people, first aid training is a SPECIALISED course that teaches very specific skills that are directly related to first aid. Not disease or ill-health.

So while a trained nurse, for example, would know how to bandage a wound or stop someone bleeding, they might not know how to do other specific first aid skills.

In Australia, we have a system that regulates all first aid training and controls who can issue first aid certificates which state a person can DO what they have been trained in.

It’s a good system as it also insists that people must stay up to date with the latest developments in first aid training and so any certificates issued always expire after a period of time. Even the Royal College of General Practitioners recommends that doctors should retrain in CPR every 3 years.

So there you have it. The mystery solved. Many doctors, nurses and other health professionals, including allied health professionals such as physios, chiros, dentists, etc, will often get trained in first aid as a supplement to their general knowledge about the human body and how to fix it.

This does NOT invalidate their medical training. On the contrary it supplements it and makes them a better all-round doctor, nurse or allied health professional. If you are a doctor, nurse or allied health professional and you need to update your first aid training, you can book with us. We offer in-person training at our Truganina centre or if you would like to complete most of your training online we have this available. It's called "blended training" and it offers the convenience of being able to train from home or work, then visit us for a brief assessment session to get your certificate.

Of course if the staff in your clinic need first aid training, we can come to you if you have more than 12 people to train at once or they can come to us. Book or contact us here https://www.resultsfirstaid.com/courses