Rank: Forum user 
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Hi,
I am also a first aider at work and have been for a lot of years. During refresher courses the issue of whether to have aspirin in first aid boxes has been discussed many times. The advice I have always been given is not to put them in the boxes as someone could administer it for the right reasons but the person taking it could have an allergic reaction. Having had a few people at work recently refreshed on their training they are saying that the advice is not to have aspirin in the box especially as we also have a defib on site and have people trained with that. Does anyone else either have aspirin or avoid having it?
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I'm a first aid instructor and when I am asked this question I refer them to the HSE website which states
Are first-aiders allowed to give tablets and medication to casualties?
First aid at work does not include giving tablets or
medicines to treat illness. The only exception to this is where aspirin
is used when giving first aid to a casualty with a suspected heart
attack, in accordance with currently accepted first-aid practice. It is
recommended that tablets and medicines should not be kept in the
first-aid box.
The aspirin and the defib do different things. The aspirin is used to thin the blood to enable better circulation, the defib is used to administer an electric shock te reset the heart rythym.
In most places of work there will be people who routinely have aspirin in their desks for whatever reason.
Edited by user 08 October 2018 14:29:01(UTC)
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Rank: Forum user
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I think the HSE guidance on this is very clear and agree you are right to be cautious in relation to stocking these in a first aid box - my mother is one such person who is allergic to aspirin and when given (it was in a hospital many years ago which was how she discovered the allergy) her reaction was so severe it sent her into severe respiratory distress.
My advice to first aiders will always be, if a person carries a medication with them then you can assist them to take it if they are unable to do so on their own but otherwise do not give medications.
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