| abstract
| - Fictional first aid is often applied in ways that would be useless or outright counterproductive in Real Life. There's the reason of safety, as during CPR or the Heimlich maneuver organs in the way are considered to be expendable. There's the practical reason that the audience might prefer their unconsciousness and revival scene without it turning into Fun Things To Do With Vomit. There's the dramatic reason that a character may not actually know first aid, or the work may be a period piece where medical knowledge is less advanced. There's the likely reason that people Did Not Do the Research. Stock mistakes are:
* Moving injured people without stabilizing their head first.
* Removing impaling foreign objects from wounds. Generally they've smashed all the bits they're going to smash, and are now acting as a plug on the wound - and an infection can be fought off with antibiotics at the hospital. Pull the plug, and you may be dead in minutes. Barbed weapons might tear more flesh and even if they don't, you're unlikely to be able to pull it out at the exact angle it went in.
* Depicting mouth-to-mouth as romantic. Using CPR on that pale, dying individual in your arms has about a 2% chance of revival on its own (and doesn't guarantee that they'll survive what caused that cardiac arrest in the first place). In recent times, official standards have dictated that mouth-to-mouth isn't even recommended if a victim has no pulse. Just stopping to give breaths could be enough to allow the victim to die. Even when breaths were a part of CPR, they were at a very low ratio to compressions--typically anywhere from 15:1 to 30:1 (compressions to breaths).
* In addition, depicting CPR as able to revive somebody alone. CPR is NOT a lifesaving technique, but rather a life-prolonging technique designed to keep someone in some sort of recoverable state while actual help arrives. If they revive on CPR alone, then you're just lucky.
* Depicting professionals doing mouth-to-mouth in modern times. EMTs and hospital staff will always use a bag valve mask, both for hygiene (having a patient throw up in your mouth used to be a rite of passage for paramedics) and because it delivers more oxygen. And typically they will run a tube down their throat first.
* Having a male rescuer get squicked about performing mouth-to-mouth on another male, and playing it for laughs that they're placing their macho insecurities above someone's life.
* Likewise, mouth-to-mouth on a drowning victim only really works if you get most of the water out first.
* Disregarding the security of an accident scene or even personal safety, in violation of the most important rule: Avoid increasing the number of casualties. Rushing onto the freeway isn't any more safe because there's an upended car on it. This one's popular in real life – paramedics get called out at least weekly in some areas for accidents caused by people running onto the freeway to help.
* In Hollywood, if CPR is ineffective it is perfectly fine to start randomly striking the patient in the chest in an attempt to restart their heart. In real life, this is called a Precordial Thump. It is a precisely aimed blow delivered by an expert in an attempt to interrupt a life-threatening rhythm, in the event that a defibrillator is not available, and can only be attempted once. Like a defibrillator, it cannot restore an asystolic heart. (It is also sometimes suggested as first thing to try if the heart of victim was stopped by electricity, but only in this case and only once, as in this case, heart might not be damaged and only need small impulse to start beating again. But its rare case and should precede CPR, not follow it.)
* The Miraculous Bitchslap Of Life. Somebody isn't breathing, or there's no pulse, and their buddy gets all emotional and angry and slaps them a couple of times, perhaps accompanied by a How Dare You Die on Me! speech. After a few seconds they come around.
* Putting someone's head back when they have a nosebleed- you risk making them choke or puke from swallowing the blood.
* Person has hypothermia? Throw them in hot water! In real life, this would cause their core temperature to shoot right up, inviting the colder fluid from the extremities in. The resulting diffusion would make the person even colder, or worse, mess up their heart.
* Beginning care on a conscious adult without consent. The person can sue for assault and battery, and this applies even to choking victims. Spotting or MSTing such depictions is good for a lark. Unfortunately, Reality Is Unrealistic, so they are likely not harmless and it might be a good idea for a media fiend to take a first aid course. Depending on your country, any mid-sized or larger city should offer an initial 2-4 day - hey. Hey! Keep in mind, "mistakes" like bending the elbows while doing otherwise-proper CPR are not Worst Aid per se. As alluded to at the top, really doing CPR on someone that does not need it can get them seriously hurt. In fact, the ultimate aversion of CPR Worst Aid is having someone break a patient's sternum doing CPR on them. Bending the elbows is a necessary straight play when simulating it on a live, living actor. See also CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable, Magical Defibrillator, Suck Out the Poison, Shot to the Heart, Flatline and You Fail Your Medical Boards Forever; compare Annoying Arrows. Examples of Worst Aid include:
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