Taking first aid courses online may not be as good as the hands on experience you would get from physically attending classes, but it is still a very good start to becoming educated in treatment methods when someone is in need of your help. There are dozens of topics that might be covered in these classes, from broken bones and choking to serious lacerations to heart saving techniques and artificial respiration, the knowledge that students take from these classes could one day save someones life.
Although the total experience that first aid courses online gives is limited compared to hands on training, there is still much to be learned from the Internet. Many people are nervous about wounds that involve a lot of bleeding. The best way to stop heavy bleeding is to apply direct pressure to the area to try to help the blood slow down and eventually stop. People quickly can lose too much blood, and it is important that any treatments that are done are done quickly.
Usually small cuts and scrapes do not call for true emergency treatment, but if the incident involved any kind of a rusty metal object, tetanus could become a problem. First aid courses online will teach students how to decide if an injury warrants a trip to the doctors office for a tetanus shot or not. Washing small wounds with clean water and an antibacterial agent when possible usually is sufficient treatment for most injuries that are small. Keep an eye on all wounds to make sure it does not start to look angry, because this could be a sign of infection.
First aid courses online will also tell you to always be alert with someone whenever a head injury has occurred. The tricky thing is that with a head injury sometimes, symptoms of an injury do not appear right away. It may take several hours before evidence of any trauma might be noticed. Someone needs to stay with a person who has bumped their head for the first 24 48 hours to make sure that an injury does not present severe symptoms. Sometimes the person may appear ok for several hours before they might lose consciousness or slip into a coma. If you are with someone who has recently had a possible head injury and they suddenly begin to act strangely or they begin to feel overwhelmingly sleepy all of a sudden, this could indicate an emergency situation in which there is internal bleeding in the brain or around the skull.
For more information about taking first aid courses online, you can search for local community events or simply go online and do a search on Google or Bing.