Pinin - I've nothing against products that start with an "i", except iTunes. Although these days I don't have much use for iliner or iiHerecomesthefilthquickrunaway either.

The Red Cross app has been on the front page of my iPad since the day I did the course. Nice one for remembering it - it is very good!

srm6 - well, I'm very pleased - if surprised - to hear you were given first aid tuition at school. Was it a single school initiative or LEA wide?

Oh, and I don't get a bean for attending the First Aid course, but I do regard myself as lucky to have had it paid for.

No idea if I'm honest (was only 9 or 10 at the time), although I mentioned this to my wife and she had a similar course so it may have been Northampton-wide?

Having said that, saw an advert over the weekend saying that now you are only supposed to do the chest compressions to revive someone so half of what was covered is apparently 'wrong' now?!

Not wrong I think they are trying to make it easier, and overcome some fears about "kissing" someone who may have HIV.

Worryingly I recently read a book (Blood, Sweat and Tea by Tom Reynolds*) written by a paramedic who stated that your chances of survival after a heart attack are pretty slim, even if the paramedics get there. Apparently Holby City et al have given the public an overly optimistic view of heart attacks..

*Looking on Amazon, it would seem that the C4 series Sirens was based on his books.

You are unlikely to survive your heart stopping unless someone uses an AED (defibrillator). Something like every minute until you use one, the chance of survival goes down 10%.

When I trained (and then worked) in A&E our success rate was 20% for casualties admitted via ambulance and *only* 28% for "witnessed" arrests within the hospital environment, and that was considered the norm. Television shows have given a very rosy picture of survival whether within or outside the hospital environment, although that is not to say it isn't worth trying in case you happen to strike lucky and get one of the 20%. I've had a couple of those, one of the most memorable being where it was 45 minutes before assistance arrived and trust me, that is a *long* time to keep up full-blown CPR......I nearly needed it myself afterwards!

Pretty much what TR said in his books. Well worth a read, light reading as they're based on his blogs, but it's staggering the misuse and abuse the general public heap on the Ambulance and A&E services. Reading the books, I couldn't help feeling some people should lose the right of access to an Ambulance or indeed the NHS. The end result could only be a reduction in the less worthy (as selected by RK) elements of society.

Slewing off topic further, sorry J_C, but the things that used to bug me about BBC's "Casualty" was that they didn't show things like the *same* attempted suicide victim coming in every three days (common occurrence), the twenty sprained ankles (especially on Saturday nights when girls, predominantly, tried to dance in high heels) each shift, note not per day, per shift! They didn't show the "day after Giro day" when people would try to get admitted because they'd boozed up all their money and needed food/shelter!

They also didn't show the routine violence directed towards the staff, again on a daily basis, nor did they seem to show the hundreds of attendees that were coming in because they couldn't be bothered to see (or didn't believe)their own GP.

I'll never forget taking the history of one admission who ran through a list symptoms ranging from hair-loss to teeth falling out, severe abdo pain, bleeding gums, chest pain (a red flag, meaning you couldn't turn them away), headaches, blurred vision etc etc etc and when I asked two questions it all fell into place; "How long have you had these symptoms", answer "Forty years!" followed by "Has your GP given you anything for this?" to which he replied with the name of a well-known anti-psychotic drug!

At least it gave me something to laugh about!

I worked in A&E for 6 months.

I gradually lost all faith in society dealing with endless streams of drunks, drug users, "suicide attempts" and assaults. I became bitter and incredibly cold-hearted towards patients, which troubled me. I was routinely verbally abused and there were a number of physical assault attempts. It didn't trouble me but some of the girls found it understandably very intimidating. A friend had his nose broken by a drug user.

Despite this I loved dealing with the few-and-far-between genuine emergencies and the fantastic team spirit we had among the staff.

Having an accident-prone yet adventurous 13-year-old stepson, I've done my fair share of the Addenbrooke's A&E waiting rooms - very luckily not at an hour when pubs are chucking out. I've always been impressed by the calm, courteous and efficient service, but I hate to think what it can be like. The only uncomfortable moment (for us as opposed to for Billy!) was when he told us he'd gashed his head falling off his scooter. Turns out it was a mate throwing a rock at him, but he didn't want to get his mate into trouble. Nice try, but the A&E staff clearly worked out that the injury wasn't consistent with a fall and gave Mrs C quite a suspicious grilling!

Ah the reticent schoolboy! I spent 3 days in hospital after carrying out the fainting trick (why) in a cobbled street (why) and hitting my head on a flint wall (surprise).

Obviously I couldn't admit to being so stupid, so said I didn't know why I fainted. The three days were not the result of the subsequent injury, but for observation due to doctor's concerns as to why I fainted.

It was years before I admitted it to my mum. She wasn't best pleased.

The most embarassing thing I had to admit to as a kid in outpatients was when the "piece of lead" stuck between my ribs was found to be an air rifle slug.

Difficult to explain that one away.

When i did my refresher a few weeks ago , the instructor was telling us about one of the lads who failed the course, and when he was home started to practice chest compressions on his wife... nearly killed her.

.... burst the silicone implants ?????