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First Aid & Emergency Response for Home, Work and the Road

What to do in the first minutes: stay safe, call for help, CPR and the recovery position, choking, bleeding, burns, head and spine injuries, heart attack, stroke, seizures, diabetes, poisoning, snakebite, drowning and heat, with the myths that cost lives.

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About this course

In Nigeria an ambulance can be a long way off, so the person standing nearby often decides what happens next. This course teaches the recognised basic first aid every adult should know, in plain words, for the home, the school, the workplace and the road. You will learn how to make a scene safe and call for help with a location a responder can find, how to check breathing and use the recovery position, how to give CPR and use a defibrillator if one arrives, how to help someone who is choking, how to stop bleeding, recognise shock and cool a burn properly, how to protect a head, neck or back injury and support a broken bone, how to recognise a heart attack, a stroke, a seizure, an asthma attack and a diabetic emergency, what to do (and never do) for poisoning, snakebite, dog bites and allergic reactions, how to handle heat, drowning, electric shock and floods, and how to plan first aid for a school or workplace and hand over to health workers. Every lesson follows a teacher who has just become her school's first aider. Reading is not certification: the course tells you plainly to take a practical, hands-on first aid course, and how to find one. Free, like every Skillnaija course.

Monday, 7:40 a.m., at the primary school in Oluyole Estate, Ibadan. Mrs Oyelaran, the proprietor, hands Ngozi Adeyemi a green metal box and a letter: from today the Primary 4 teacher is the school's first aider. At 2:15 p.m. Mallam Idris shouts from the gate. A mother waiting for her twins has sunk to the ground beside the parked cars, and a crowd is forming. One parent is fanning her, another is calling for water to splash on her face, and a school bus is reversing towards them. Everyone turns to Ngozi. She has the box. She does not yet have a plan for the first minute, and the first minute is where most of first aid happens.

What you'll learn

Course syllabus — 10 lessons

  1. First aid: what it is, what it is not, and your first minute15 min
  2. Unresponsive: the recovery position and CPR17 min
  3. Choking: mild, severe, and by age15 min
  4. Bleeding, shock, wounds and burns16 min
  5. Head, neck, back and broken bones16 min
  6. Medical emergencies: heart attack, stroke, seizures, asthma, diabetes, fainting17 min
  7. Poisoning, bites, stings and allergic reactions16 min
  8. Heat, drowning, electrical injury and floods16 min
  9. Children, schools and workplaces16 min
  10. Handing over, recording, and the project17 min

Your project

Your First Aid Plan

One document (Google Doc with view access, or an uploaded Word or PDF file) with a headed section for each of the six parts. No private medical details of real people.

Certificates on Skillnaija are earned, not issued for attendance: you submit this project, it is graded against a rubric, and passing issues a certificate anyone can verify. See the full project brief, rubric and free workbook →

Frequently asked questions

Is First Aid & Emergency Response for Home, Work and the Road free?

Yes. First Aid & Emergency Response for Home, Work and the Road is completely free on Skillnaija. You need a free account to open the lessons, and there is no charge for the course, the project, or the certificate.

How long does First Aid & Emergency Response for Home, Work and the Road take to complete?

4 weeks · ~3 hrs/week. There are 10 lessons, about 3 hours of material in total. You learn at your own pace and your progress is saved.

Do I need any experience to start First Aid & Emergency Response for Home, Work and the Road?

Beginner. You can start from scratch — no prior experience is assumed.

What will I learn in First Aid & Emergency Response for Home, Work and the Road?

You will build practical skills in Scene safety and calling for help, Checking response and breathing, Recovery position, Adult CPR and AED use in outline, Choking response by age, Bleeding control and shock, Burn and scald care, Head, spine and fracture first aid, Heart attack, stroke, seizure, asthma and diabetic emergencies, Poisoning, snakebite and allergic reactions, Heat, drowning and electrical injuries, Workplace and school first aid planning. Every lesson is written for a Nigerian context, with examples drawn from how the work is actually done and paid for here.

Do I get a certificate for First Aid & Emergency Response for Home, Work and the Road?

Yes, but it has to be earned. You complete the course project — Your First Aid Plan and submit it for grading. Passing the project issues a verifiable certificate; finishing the lessons alone does not.

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