Mini Medics
Report Copyright Infringement View in OSM UK
Description
Become a mini medic and find out what to do in an emergency.
(Taken from the Scout Association website https://www.scouts.org.uk/activities/mini-medics/)
Resources
40 minutes
Sheets
Face paint (in a variety of colours, including red)
Gloves (optional)
Bandages or plasters (optional)
Emergency First Aid poster (attached, or at sja.org.uk/globalassets/first-aid-posters/emergency_first_aid_advice_poster.pdf)
We adapted during Covid so the Beavers bandaged a teddy and put teddy in the recovery position. They also reassured teddy! The demonstration of the recovery position was done by a leader and young leader from the same family. We didn't put face paint on teddy or have Beavers going out of the room.
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Do a risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Always get approval for the activity and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
- Contact games and activities: Make sure everyone understands what contact is acceptable, and monitor contact throughout the activity.
Change the level of challenge
When demonstrating how to treat bleeding and unconsciousness, go into as much or as little detail as the group needs. They might not need to know how to put someone in recovery position, but they could learn how to call for help.
Make it accessible
Anyone who is uncomfortable with touching other people can use toys or action figures to demonstrate or explain what they’d do verbally. If someone is uncomfortable being touched themselves, they don’t have to play the role of the patient.
Instructions
Mini medics training
1. The person leading the activity should find an adult to help them with role-playing some accidents. Together they’ll show how to help someone who’s bleeding and someone who’s unconscious.
2. In the bleeding scenario, the adult has fallen over and cut their leg on glass. They should use face paint to draw a small cut and act visibly upset at their accident. The person leading the activity should follow the St John Ambulance guide sheet to help and explain to the whole group what they’re doing. When someone’s bleeding, your priority is to stop the bleeding. Protect yourself with gloves and apply pressure to the wound using bandages or plasters. If there’s an object in the wound, don’t pull it out: leave it in and apply pressure on either side of it. Call 999, and then dress the wound and secure in place. Reassure the injured person, by saying things like, ‘you’ll be fine’ or ‘we’ll have this sorted in no time’.
3. Move onto the unconscious scenario: the adult helper should lie still on the ground and the person leading the activity should again follow the St John Ambulance guide sheet to help them and explain to the whole group what they’re doing. When someone’s unconscious, it’s important to check if they’re breathing. To do this, open their airway by gently tilting their head back and lifting their chin. Spend no more than 10 seconds looking and listening for normal breathing. Can you see chest movements, hear breathing sounds or feel breaths on your cheek? Keep their airway open by placing them in the recovery position and then call for help.
Put it into practice
1. The person leading the activity should split everyone into small groups, each with an adult helper and some St John Ambulance guide sheets. If you don’t have gloves and bandages or plasters, the medics can mime putting them on.
2. Each group should sit in a circle, leaving an arm’s length of space between each other.
3. One person in each group should be the medic and another should be the patient. The medic should then leave the room or area, so they can’t see or hear the rest of their group.
4. Each group should decide what sort of injury the patient will have (a small cut, larger cut, or of consciousness) and perhaps create a fake wound using face paints.
5. The patient should act as though they’re injured or, if they’re pretending to be unconscious, lie down still on the ground.
6. Once the groups are ready, they should call the medics back in. The medics should assess what has happened and start to treat them – remembering to use gloves and bandages or plasters if needed. Medics should use the relevant St John Ambulance guide sheets. Helpers should be on hand to advise and keep reminding everyone about the importance of reassuring patients.
7. Repeat the process, so everyone gets the chance to be a medic, and use their skills.
Reflection
- This activity helped everyone to learn what to do in some emergency scenarios and to improve their first aid skills. Everyone should feel proud about completing their mini medic training and feel more confident about helping someone who’s injured. Can everyone remember the steps to take when someone is unconscious or bleeding, without looking at the St John Ambulance guide sheets?
- While it’s important to call for help from an adult or medical professional in an emergency, everyone should know they can still help someone who is injured. Reassuring a patient is often as important as the medical treatment they receive. Can anyone remember how they were comforted when they were unwell? What comforting words would they like to hear if they were injured?
Tags
- Emergency aid 1
Badge Links
- Emergency Aid - Bleeding
- Emergency Aid - Reassure
- Emergency Aid - Unconscious