Long term travel and first aid knowledge [closed]

I started a year-ish long term travel adventure and I have been very quickly reminded how edgy situations can get when in a under developed country: I had one minor scooter accident, saw one major motorbike accident and saw another minor scooter accident, all that in the space of one month in Indonesia.

All this reminded me that I have not refreshed my first aid knowledge for far too long (many years). It's something I completely forgot when planning my trip.

So even if I'd like to help this poor guy I saw lying unconscious on the side of the road after a motorbike accident, I'm not sure I'd actually be able to do much (locals had no idea what to do).

What first aid knowledge would you recommend to have? Any certification/training more appropriate to traveling than others?

Best Answer

Look for BLS (Basic Life Support). Depending on the course or the country, it usually provides enough knowledge to deal with a few medical emergency conditions including:

Heart attacks and breathing problems (CPR)
Choking.
Drowning.
Bleeding.
Allergies.

I am qualified for that and I feel that this is very important, especially when I am with my family and not only when I travel. In some countries the red cross or the equivalent provides such courses for free.

Also, you can read that stuff in the internet, but nothing beats practicing CPR on dummies, you can't learn that by reading only.