Erin Weeks – Assessment Objective 3 – Demonstrate the ability to assess Injury.

Demonstrate the ability to assess Injury

During any kind of physical activity, there is a chance that somebody participating may get injured or hurt.  It is the First Aider’s role, to be on site and available immediately – in the case of emergency.  

In order to demonstrate the ability to assess an injury – one must possess the capability to refer to the SALTAPS process, designed initially for First Aid in Sport.

This process involves:

S        eeing the injury occur and stopping play. 

If the individual on first aid has seen the incident happen, they are more likely to be aware of what procedures to undertake and they are also likely to have an idea beforehand of what the injury may be, as a result of what they have just seen.  As soon as the accident takes place, and it is evident that an athlete or performer is injured – all continuation of play must be STOPPED.  There must be an immediate assessment on the field of play – and the area surrounding the injured individual, must be cleared as quickly and as safely as possible.    

A        sking the injured athlete questions and assessing the problem.

The assessor will need to ask the player or the participant, how the injury happened.  If they have seen the accident occur, this question becomes irrelevant.  The assessor will need to ask the individual the following questions:

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Are you okay?

What exactly hurts?

Is there anybody else injured or involved?

On the scale of one to ten – ten being painful and one being bearable, how would you rate the state at which you are feeling at present?

Do you feel sick?

Are you cold? (Supply a blanket or the equivalent, if so)

(IF the player is unconscious, ABC is needed, Airway-Breathing and Circulation. The first aider will need to ask a witness in this event as to what happened and what the mechanics of the injury are.)

Once the athlete has answered the ...

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