I attended a first aid course over the weekend, which was very interesting, useful and something everyone should do if you get the chance.*
One of the things we spent time discussing was the Primary and Secondary Survey.
The Primary Survey is your immediate assessment of a situation that allows you to quickly get to grips with what’s going on and how to act in the short-term. The DR ABC – Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing, Circulation.
The Secondary Survey is a more systematic assessment of the condition of the patient to understand if there are other injuries or issues that need to be addressed once the primary issues are managed.
I think there is a lesson here for comms planning and response.
– How often do we come at a challenge with a primary response… and then that’s it?
– Do you make time to look beyond the initial issue and review other issues that may need attention?
– Once the immediate need is managed, do you sit back and relax, or ask what else is potentially going on here that may need attention, or may be a bigger issue to deal with?
I like the idea of applying a primary and secondary survey approach to communications. Next time you are asked to respond to a communications challenge, try the following:
– Primary Survey – what needs to happen right now to meet the requirement or manage the situation
– Secondary Survey – what else might be going on here that we need to manage in the short or medium term
It’s easy to feel like once the immediate response is delivered, you can move on. Thinking about Primary and then Secondary can help us identify underlying issues that are probably just as important or impactful.
*One stat the tutor gave us was that the UK has a very low survival rate from heart attacks. One reason is that the % of people who are trained or feel confident about responding to a heart attack is very low compared to similar countries. The UK is about 30%, whilst Germany, for example, is closer to 80%.
Apparently, CPR is routinely taught in many schools, so the number of trained individuals in the community is significantly higher. Something for the UK to consider!