TRAUMA PREVENTION AND FIRST AID: EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR RECOGNIZING EMERGENCIES AND PROMOTING SAFE ACTIONS

Introduction: Traumatic and unintentional injuries, including road traffic crashes, falls and drowning, remain among the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, particularly among children, adolescents and young adults. Most of these events are foreseeable and preventable, and the interval between the incident and the arrival of professional care is often decisive. In this context, education in injury prevention and first aid turns laypeople into active links in the chain of survival. Objective: To analyze, in light of recent literature, educational strategies for trauma prevention and first aid training, with emphasis on early recognition of emergencies and the adoption of safe actions by the lay public. Methods: Narrative literature review guided by the PICo framework, with searches in PubMed/MEDLINE, SciELO and LILACS (through the Virtual Health Library), complemented by reports from international agencies and Brazilian legislation, prioritizing publications from 2020 to 2026. Twelve sources were selected and organized in a summary chart. Results: The evidence indicates that structured programs combining brief theoretical content with supervised practice improve knowledge, skills and willingness to act among children, teachers and other laypeople. Schools stand out as a privileged setting, and trained teachers act as multipliers. Bleeding control and basic life support courses show consistent gains, although skills decline within a few months. Technologies such as serious games and digital materials perform comparably to traditional teaching and broaden reach. Conclusion: Education in trauma prevention and first aid should be continuous, practice-based, adapted to age and context, and integrated with public policy. Gaps remain regarding skill retention and impact on real clinical outcomes, which calls for systematic program evaluation.