Primary Survey Relay Race

The primary survey is mega important right? And all first aiders should be able to do it well and quickly? A primary survey relay race is a great way of getting people to practice the primary survey in a fun (and ever so slightly competitive!) way - but doesn't remove the need to be thorough.

The basic idea is that each person in a team (one after the other) carries out a full primary survey (you can choose how extended this is depending on the group) and the first team to have had everyone finish wins. The catch is that you need to get someone (perhaps one person per team) to check that the primary survey is being done properly. If it isn't, then that person has to start again from the beginning of the primary survey (so that means checking breathing for 10 seconds and not just 2!). It's as simple as that, but really effective.

Practical Tips:

This activity is most appropriate with people who are familiar with the primary survey rather than people who have only just learnt it for the first time.
If you don't have someone to act as a patient for each team, get the person who has just done the primary survey to become the patient
Make sure that the spotters who are looking for mistakes know what they are doing! And the harsher they are, the more we learn and the more competitive people get!
Don't forget that we are emphasising a good quality primary survey as well as speed - don't let people just do a rubbish job that's quick

Comments:
Have you tried this idea out? Let us know how it went or give us your top tips to make it work well! If you are logged in, your usename will be assigned to the comment.