BASW students attend first aid training

By Norbu Lhamo, BASW III

The third-year students of Bachelors of Arts in Social Work (BASW) on 21 May attended training on basic first aid techniques.

The district medical officer and the emergency medical respondent from the Samtse District Hospital conducted the training. The two-hour training was part of the module on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management.

The training highlighted how to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on adults and children, dealing with fractures, wounds, bleeding, choking and ensuring safety before anything. The training demonstrated how to handle casualties after performing emergency first aid.

The emergency medical respondent said that emergency first aid techniques using an automatic external defibrillator and other equipment may take more than a day. He offered to conduct a separate two-day workshop to certify the students for basic life safety course.

The medical officer highlighted one of the misconceptions of many people regarding handling snakebites. Many people tend to tie the bitten part to stop the circulation of venom to other parts of the body. He said it would worsen the injury since it would completely stop blood circulation in the affected areas.

For Sherab Zangmo, a student of BASW, it was the first time she had attended such training after joining the college besides the field practicum last semester. This was the second practical in the module since they had received the basic fire safety demonstration and practice from officials from the Royal Bhutan Police. Sherab said that the first aid session helped her connect theories and knowledge learned in the classroom to real-world situations.