Last Updated on September 25, 2020 by
One of the most important things I’ve enjoyed learning along my own personal prepping journey is regarding first aid and medical treatment. Now I’m no doctor, and I’m assuming you aren’t either, so I’ve constantly got my nose in a book reading various topics of first aid.
During that process, one of the terms I kept running across was the “3 P’s of first aid.” Therefore, I thought I would share with you in this post what it is and what I learned about it.
So let’s get started!
What Do The 3 P's Stand For?
P1: Preserve Life
The first P stands for preserve life. Essentially this means stop the person from dying in whatever means possible. Now, this is where having a good survival first aid kit comes into play. This role is typically played by the first responder at the scene of the accident.
But in a case where society has been plunged into chaos, you may find yourself acting as the first responder. Once you assess the emergency scene for hazards and other dangers, your job should be to start what’s called the C-A-B procedure of first aid.
- Circulation – At this stage you will determine their quality of circulation.
- Airway – When assessing the situation, ensure that the victim has an airway.
- Breathing – On top of that, make sure the person is breathing.
If you need to perform CPR, you should do it at this point until someone else with greater professional training can arrive. At this stage, you are performing medical aid as quickly as possible to save a life.
Although, if you are stuck in a situation where there are no doctors anymore, you will have to do the best you can do with the training that you hopefully received before the SHTF.
P2: Prevent Deterioration or Further Injury
The second P is focusing on preventing the patient from deteriorating any further. This is where you start putting what skills you know in first aid to work.
Here, you will stop the person from getting injured any further or to prevent the injury from getting worse. You will also assess whether or not someone needs to be moved. This can be more difficult than it seems, but your main focus is to save the person’s life, so if you can’t do it in the current position either due to some hazard or a blocked airway, then they will need to be moved.
I know that back and neck injuries is a big concern that people have and whether or not someone should be moved. According to the Mayo Clinic, you should not move anyone that you suspect has a serious neck or back injury, but then again, if their airway is blocked, you will have to make some quick decisions. This is why is can be difficult to assess movement of the person injured.
This second P can also include anything from applying pressure to wounds using gauze pads or an Israeli pad to clot bleeding, applying a tourniquet, or any other form of first aid that you feel comfortable doing.
P3: Promote Recovery
The third P of the 3 P’s of first aid is to promote recovery. After you’ve done what first aid treatment that you are comfortable performing, you should try to relieve any kind of pain that the person may be feeling.
Importance Of First Aid
It’s almost without saying the importance of learning some form of basic first aid. You can easily do this by going to your local Red Cross and looking into what types of first aid classes they offer.
As someone interested in learning more specifically about first aid training in a survival situation, you should check out more specifically schools that train in wilderness first aid.
It’s quite a different class of its own and can prove very useful in the type of post-apocalyptic world that we all are prepping for. One of the best schools for wilderness first aid training is NOLS. You can find their class schedule here.
Remember that it’s always important to carry your own survival first aid kit. To learn more about how to build your own survival first aid kit you can read our previous article titled How Do You Make A Homemade First Aid Kit? or you can check out our review post on the 10 Best Survival First Aid Kits.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know the 3 P’s of first aid, you should feel a little better about what to focus on and in what order during an emergency situation. Knowing the 3 P’s of first aid won’t save a person’s life, but it will start you down the right path.