Day in the life of a First Aid Trainer

Ok so we have previously learnt about what Lesley gets up to on a typical day as an NVQ assessor. Now we are going to visit Martyn Smith to see what a day in the life of a first aid trainer involves...

07:30 - Time to Go!

Hi Im Martyn and here we go for another action packed day. You can see from the picture above that I got all my mannequins cleaned and ready last night. Today we are delivering an Emergency First Aid at Work course on the outskirts of Surrey and I’m about to set off by car to the venue.

I have to pack everything up including the mannequins, textbooks, paperwork AED and of course my packed lunch!

08:30 - Arrival

I have arrived at the venue and met the office manager Sally. She’s really nice and makes me a cup of tea ahead of a 09:00 start. I organise the chairs into a horseshoe and create some floor space ahead of the practicals. Finally just put a textbook on each chair so that people have something to look at whilst we are waiting for the full group to arrive.

08:59 - Time to start

Just about enough time to talk before we get started. Everyone is here so the course will start with basic ground rules and the traditional ice breaker. I get people to chat to the person next to them. Find out their name? Hometown? And any first aid incidents that person has seen or been involved in?

10:30 - Break time

We have just reached the first break. So far the topic covered included checking breathing, assessment of injuries and the unconscious casualty. I put a useful real life video on that the group seemed to enjoy. Sally has just bought in some tea, coffee and biscuits and we are going to take a 10 minute time out.

12:00 - CPR

We have now covered the non breathing casualty including CPR and use of the defibrillator. It is always good to see people practicing on the mannequins, and hopefully people are now more confident on dealing with a real life emergency.

15:00 - Practical recap

The syllabus has now been covered and we finish with a practical recap. This gives everyone a last chance to practice just in case a real life first aid incident arises.

Finally candidates complete the theory recap paper and we discuss the answers as a group. I find this helps reinforce the learning process and we conclude with any questions.

15:30 - Finish

Everyone seems to of left with a smile on their face and have given me some positive feedback. I enjoy my job working as a first aid trainer. Although the courses are often quite similar I get to meet a wide variety of people and hear many interesting stories. It’s easy to forget that what we’re teaching has the potential to save lives outside of the classroom.