As a first aid trainer, your job would be quite simple - through teaching a nationally accredited programme which has to conform to pretty rigid AQTF frameworks.
your employer, if they are based in SA, would have been involved in a consultative process during the last 12 months - spearheaded by SafeWork SA, which reviewed the First Aid Code of Practice for worksites and employers. While this is in reference primarily to the number of staff who should be first aid trained and the level of training required, plus equipment which should be carried. While this area is based solely around risk reduction and the responsibilities of employers - it highlights another point!
Medical care is based around a high level of education, coupled with the ability to make safe effective patient care decisions based on diagnostic acumen, and then deciding on an appropriate patient care pathway based on, again, high level of education, skills based training and a formal examination process which is required to fit into an AQTF framework.
First Aid (in terms of the volunteer first aid sector....) on the other hand - is based on common sense (ie: if it's bleeding -stop it, if it's broken - Splint it, if it's not beating -push on it etc etc), and the ability to recognise if and when a patient needs further diagnoses or treatment - where to get said treatment - and/or whether or not the patient requires definitive care +/- other urgent interventions(eg: surgery, CathLab etc).
Where the issue comes about (for me...as a health care professional) is when these people put on their pretty uniform and seem to think they are God's Gift to public safety - when in reality they are making some silly decisions which have adverse patient outcomes because they don't a) have particularly good knowledge of A&P and PathoPhys, coupled with patient assesment and/or diagnostic skills and b) because they have a maligned opinion of their own abilities! (nb: point b) usually results in these people pretending that point a) is something they are experts at....clearly folling not only themselves, but sadly - some of the public...)
The death of the punter at the Perth BDO is a prime example of an illicit drug OD who presented with all the classic symptoms, but was given a bottle of water and D/C into the crowd without even a proper assesment! The fact she was legally a minor raises the question of both appropriate clinical aptitude AND policy surrounding the treatment of minors (in relation to duty of care) which should be a policy position, not only to the first aid provider (in this case St John) - but a policy statement for the event!
Sometimes...a little knowledge is very dangerous - the rest of the time....ignorance is bliss - until the coroner tells you otherwise!!
As one of the defenders of one such organisation has pointed out in a previous post- it is easy to hide behind a pseudonym on a forum - so I'm guessing you're just going to have to take (or not) my word for it as someone who's not only been involved with the black and white brigade (and got out just before my cortex was removed....) , but who has witnessed some of the atrocities applied in the name of patient care.....and cringing in fear knowing that it would be me picking up the pieces!
