The Importance of First Aid Training

Now that the United States is on the road to a more humane approach to financing the delivery of health care services, I hope we can focus more on the set of ways to improve health outcomes that don’t relate to paying for doctor’s visits. One area I never hear much about is disseminating accurate information about first aid:

In an ideal world, everyone would have first aid training – and be sober enough to remember it. But according to St John Ambulance, up to 150,000 people die needlessly in Britain every year; from the 29,000 killed by heart attacks to the 2,500 victims of asphyxiation. That’s why the charity has launched The Difference – a campaign to remind us how to cope in common situations.

Supporting this kind of work seems like a no-brainer. You can take a first aid quiz here to check your knowledge. Apparently my recollection of CPR from summer camp is really bad.