For the past several years, I have been involved with putting on a program for local bus drivers that focuses on basic first aid for problems that occur on the bus.

The Goal: Provide the bus driver with a basic awareness of how to handle first aid emergencies in a 45 minute session

When I was first approached with the idea of giving basic first aid training to bus drivers at a bus driver training fair, I was concerned that I wouldn’t even have enough time to adequately present a first aid program. Teaching bleeding control in a short time is one thing, but covering the wide range of possible problems is another. I felt that I was doomed.

My first instinct was to google search for an existing program that I could use as a guide. Unfortunately, I could not find one that was specific to bus driver’s at the time.

My next choice was to brainstorm a program of my own. The program had to fit into a 45 - 60 minute time slot and had to address key first aid issues for a lay person. I set out to create a mindmap of my ideas. I find that the mindmap is very helpful in taking loose ideas and making them more concrete because of the flexilibity that is allows for moving ideas around. It just seems easier than working with an outline.

I finally came up with my answer. The program would include a short powerpoint for reference, a handout and plenty of time to answer questions that each class might have about the problems that they think that they would encounter.

The program focuses on the following:

• Getting help first before trying to react to the emergency
• Accidents
• Nose bleeds
• Illness
• Injuries
• Asthma
• Bleeding

And it covers a whole lot more because it is interactive. The basic idea of the program was to involve the audience in more of a conversational question and answer program rather than focusing on a slide driven presentation.

Of course, there are many other ways to present a program of this nature and I have seen some other good ones after the fact. Please feel free to download the program that I’ve used and make it yours, make it better or just let me know what you think.

• First Aid On The Bus - Powerpoint
• First Aid On The Bus - Instructor Guide (.pdf)
• First Aid On The Bus - Handout