Do You Qualify for a First Aid Merit Badge?

Do You Qualify for a First Aid Merit Badge?

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One of the most important skills that any of us can possess is being able to render appropriate and timely first aid during a crisis.  One way to test your abilities is to compare what you know with the requirements necessary to earn a scouting first aid merit badge.  While this may sound like kids stuff, the skills scouts need to demonstrate are surprisingly challenging and comprehensive. 

Not only that, but they are adapted to different types of scenarios that pertain to what any one of us may encounter in the field.  Let’s take a closer look at what scouts need to achieve in order to get the badge, because we can learn a lot from following their example.

Calling for Help

The first on the list is how to call for help during an emergency.  However, there’s a twist.  Scouts are asked to know what to do if they are at home or in a familiar place.  Then they are asked to come up with a plan to get help while in the wilderness or on an expedition as well as while in the water.  Take a moment and think of the difficulties associated with these scenarios, and it’s easy to see how challenging it would be to come up with a plan.  Could you pull it off if you were faced with one of these situations right now?

Assessing Patients

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Not only are scouts expected to recognize the signs and symptoms of life-threatening conditions such as cardiac or respiratory arrest, choking or shock, but they are expected to know how to react.  Scouts are also expected to learn how to triage and assess patients when multiple people are sick or injured until help arrives.  Imagine being at the scene of a mass-casualty situation and having to make an assessment, establish some kind of order and tend to patients while you may also be scared or injured as well.  Are you ready to face that challenge?

Rendering Aid

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Not only scouts expected to manage the situation, they are also expected to know how to intervene when appropriate.  This involves assembling a comprehensive first aid kit and knowing how to use it, learning to operate an AED or automated defibrillator and protecting themselves from pathogens found in the victims blood or bodily fluids.  This is pretty heavy stuff for kids and adolescents to learn, yet these are the skills that are required in order to earn a merit badge. 

Other things that scouts need to demonstrate include how to build an improvised stretcher, move unconscious patients and transport them to safety under less-than-ideal conditions.  Additionally, scouts need to recognize things like allergic reactions to insect bites, how to identify signs of broken bones, and what to do when someone is hypothermic or suffering from heat stroke.

These are just a few random examples of the many skills that a scout will develop as they earn a first aid merit badge.  The point we’re trying to make is that there is a lot of work involved with becoming equipped to handle a wide-range of medical emergencies at home as well as in the field.  Always remember that first aid is only useful if someone knows how to apply those skills and techniques. 

Take the merit badge challenge to see how you measure up in terms of your real ability to handle a medical emergency during a crisis.  Chances are that the results will surprise and motivate you to develop your own skill set. 

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