This thesis examines emergency first aid given to children aged 0–12 in the work of the Finnish Police and guidelines of operation in these emergency situations. The Finnish police officers are trained to provide emergency first aid for adults, but not for children below adolescence. The Police of Finland does not have separate educational material for children's emergency first aid, and children's first aid has not been addressed in the theses of the Police University College before. Police may be the first authority to reach an emergency in which any life-saving action must be taken immediately. The importance of rapid action by the authorities is emphasized in emergency first aid situations where help must be obtained quickly from the nearest authority.

However, children under the age of 12, especially those under the age of one, differ from adults in their physiology — and therefore it is not possible to apply everything learned from first aid to adults to young children. This thesis examines how children differ from adults in their physiology and anatomy and how this affects giving first aid. The thesis deals with the encounter of an unconscious or a lifeless child, a child with breathing difficulties or a febrile seizure and children as trauma patients. In addition to this, children as victims of violence and abuse are discussed in a separate section. The crucial legislation and instructions of the police administration regarding first aid by the Finnish police have also been examined in this thesis.

This thesis is research-based, and the method used is descriptive literature review. The data for this work has been collected from written sources, databases and public statistics. The topic was also discussed with first aid trainers. The purpose of this thesis is to create a comprehensive, theoretical knowledge base on emergency first aid for children and an operating model for police patrols for emergency first aid situations of 0–12-year-old children. The purpose of the thesis is to increase the first aid skills of the Finnish police officers. The long-term goal is to save lives and improve the co-operation between the police and the first aid authorities. The work is directed at Finnish police officers, but also others interested in the subject