Blog & first-aid guides

First aid, medical ID & health-safety guides

Clear, practical guides on emergency first aid, medical IDs and keeping your health information ready — from the team behind MedibandPlus.

All My Health Record Medical ID Medical Errors & How to Avoid Them First Aid Guides

The RICER protocol for sprains shown as five steps: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation and Referral, with the No HARM rule beneath

Featured

Fracture and Sprain First Aid: RICER, and What Not to Do

Australia teaches RICER, not RICE — and the extra R, Referral, is the step people skip. Here is the full protocol for the first 48 to 72 hours, the No HARM rule, how to splint a suspected fracture, and why you never push a bone back into place.

Read the guide →

Poisoning first aid: call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26, do not induce vomiting, do not neutralise the poison, do not wait for symptoms

Poisoning First Aid: What to Do and Who to Call

Poisoning first aid starts with a phone call, not a remedy. If they are awake and breathing normally, call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26. If they are drowsy, seizing or unconscious, call 000. And never, ever try to make them vomit.

Diagram of severe bleeding first aid: firm direct pressure on a dressing over a forearm wound, with an arterial tourniquet applied 5 cm above it

How to Stop Bleeding: Severe Bleeding First Aid

Severe bleeding first aid is mostly one thing done properly: firm, direct, continuous pressure on the wound. Here is the full Australian method, when an arterial tourniquet is the right call, and why raising the limb is no longer recommended.

A blood glucose meter reading 3.2 mmol/L, below the Australian hypoglycaemia threshold of 4

Diabetic Emergency First Aid: How to Spot a Hypo and What to Do

Below 4 mmol/L is a hypo, and four is the floor. Give 15–20 g of fast-acting glucose, wait 15 minutes, then follow with something longer-acting. If they are unconscious, nothing by mouth. And if you cannot tell high from low, treat it as low.

Diagram of a pressure immobilisation bandage applied from the toes up a splinted leg, with the snake bite site marked

Snake and Spider Bite First Aid: Pressure Immobilisation, Step by Step

Snake venom travels by the lymphatic system, not the bloodstream — which is why Australia bandages the whole limb and keeps the person still. Here is the technique step by step, the things never to do, and why a redback bite needs the opposite treatment to a funnel-web.

The four signs of stroke in the FAST test: face drooping, arm weakness, slurred speech, and time to call Triple Zero

Signs of Stroke and the FAST Test: What to Do in the First Minutes

Face drooped, arms weak, speech slurred — any one of these means call 000 straight away, even if the signs disappear. Here is the FAST test, the signs FAST misses, and why aspirin is right for a heart attack but dangerous for a stroke.

A carer holding the hand of a patient being monitored in hospital after collapsing

Fainting First Aid: What to Do, and When Fainting Is a Warning Sign

Check whether they are breathing normally — that one question separates a simple faint from a cardiac arrest. Here is what to do either way, what to do if you feel faint yourself, and the two red flags that mean a faint needs an ambulance.

A thermometer rising past 40 degrees Celsius, the core temperature that marks heatstroke, under a blazing sun

Heatstroke and Heat Exhaustion: How to Tell Them Apart and What to Do

Pale, clammy and sweating is heat exhaustion — cool them down and they should improve within 30 minutes. Red, hot skin with confusion or slurred speech is heatstroke, and that is a 000 emergency. Here is how to tell them apart and cool someone properly.

An older couple checking blood pressure at home, part of monitoring heart health

Heart Attack Warning Signs and First Aid: Why 10 Minutes Is the Rule

Severe chest pain, pain getting worse, or pain lasting more than 10 minutes means call 000 — you do not need to be sure. Here are the warning signs, what to do while you wait, what the aspirin guidance actually says, and why a heart attack is not a cardiac arrest.

Fresh food being prepared in a kitchen, where most household scalds and burns happen

Burns and Scalds First Aid: The 20-Minute Rule That Limits the Damage

Hold the burn under cool running water for at least 20 minutes, take off nearby jewellery, and cover it with a light non-stick dressing. No ice, no butter, no burst blisters. Here is the full Australian guidance, including when a burn needs an ambulance.