Course · Safety

First Aid: The First Five Minutes

What a bystander does before EMS arrives: calling 911, recognizing cardiac arrest, chest compressions with a pace trainer, helping someone who is choking, bleeding, burns, stroke, seizures. Based on the 2025 European Resuscitation Council guidelines. Not a substitute for hands-on training with a manikin.

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PepelenCourse author

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Unit 1. The first ten seconds

Lesson 1. Look around, call out, shout for help

8 exercises · In ten seconds, check for danger to yourself, test whether the person responds, and shout for help — what all help starts with, before any diagnosis.

Lesson 2. Calling 911: what the dispatcher asks

9 exercises · Call for help so that the EMS crew gets on its way fast: give the address first, say briefly what happened and how the person is, and don't hang up first.

Lesson 3. Is it OK to touch them? The law, fear, and liability

8 exercises · Remove the biggest barrier — the fear of doing harm and being held liable — and know what US law says about first aid.

Unit 2. When the heart stops

Lesson 4. Cardiac arrest or fainting: how to tell

8 exercises · Recognize cardiac arrest by two signs — no response and no normal breathing — and don't mistake agonal breathing for a sign of life.

Lesson 5. Compressions: where, how deep, how fast

9 exercises · Do chest compressions properly — know where to push, how deep, how fast, and that pauses cost the most.

Lesson 6. The defibrillator and working as a pair

8 exercises · Don't be afraid of the automated external defibrillator: turn it on and do what it says; understand when breaths are needed and how to work as a pair.

Unit 3. The airway

Lesson 7. A choking adult

9 exercises · Tell an effective cough apart from a complete blockage, and act in order instead of jumping straight to techniques.

Lesson 8. A choking child

8 exercises · Understand how helping a child and an infant differs from helping an adult, and don't carry adult techniques over to an infant.

Lesson 9. Unresponsive but breathing

8 exercises · Understand what the recovery position is for, when to use it and when not to, and what to do next.

Unit 4. Bleeding, wounds, and burns

Lesson 10. Severe bleeding

8 exercises · Stop severe bleeding with direct pressure, and understand when a tourniquet is truly needed and when it does harm.

Lesson 11. Wounds and embedded objects

9 exercises · Avoid making a wound worse with the wrong moves, and know the three wounds where the usual reflex does harm: an embedded object stays in, a chest wound isn't sealed, and with an amputation, on the contrary, you don't hold off on the tourniquet.

Lesson 12. Burns and frostbite

8 exercises · Cool a burn properly, and avoid the familiar remedies that do harm.

Unit 5. Sudden illness

Lesson 13. Stroke and heart attack

8 exercises · Recognize a stroke and a heart attack by their signs, understand that minutes count, and avoid wasting time on “lie down and it'll pass.”

Lesson 14. Fainting, seizures, and low blood sugar

8 exercises · Know what to do when someone briefly loses consciousness or has a seizure: mostly stay out of the way, protect them from injury, and notice in time when it's no longer a faint.

Lesson 15. Poisoning and severe allergic reactions

9 exercises · Do no harm in a poisoning, and don't lose minutes in a severe allergic reaction.

Unit 6. Whole scenes

Lesson 16. Car crashes and electrical injuries

7 exercises · Avoid becoming a second casualty, and know the only reasons a person is ever moved.

Lesson 17. Water and cold

8 exercises · Understand how helping a drowning victim differs from an ordinary cardiac arrest, and how to rewarm someone with hypothermia without doing harm.

Lesson 18. Wrap-up: myths and scenes

9 exercises · Pull the course together into one sequence and debunk the myths that cost the most.