Know Your Limits
Emergency medical techniques and life-saving interventions are taught in the Crisis Medicine web series
Each student should check their local applicable laws to ensure they are offering first aid within their skill set, their scope of practice, and in accordance with the law. Good faith desire to help and permission by the casualty are important components of this practice. In the case of unconscious casualties, the presumption is that they would want help.
Do the Right Thing
Additionally, paramedic level skills are taught in the Advanced and Complete courses; students should not perform medical skills beyond their medical training and certification. In an emergency, you should always seek help by calling 9-1-1 or your emergency system and seek higher medical care for individuals with serious injuries. Once you begin to provide care, abandoning your casualty could result in liability for negligence.1 However, if the scene becomes even more dangerous, leaving to keep yourself safe is always smart.
In an emergency situation, a private citizen is probably going to be the first person on the scene, and most able to avoid preventable loss of life from massive hemorrhage.
When good people do the right thing,
we can all be a force multiplier for good.
1 See the blog for a summary of the application of Good Samaritan laws.