An NHS ambulance trust today became the first in the UK to offer people the chance to download first-aid and resuscitation advice on to their iPods.
Tips on how to deal with common 999 issues, including burns, fits, wounds and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, have been pre-recorded in a user-friendly electronic audio format.
Each audio file, lasting between two and three minutes, can be downloaded individually from the Sussex Ambulance Service website on to an iPod or any other MP3 player.
The seven messages are recorded by local Southern FM DJ Nicky Keig-Shevlin and guides listeners through treatments in a simple stage-by-stage process.
The scheme was dreamed up by Sussex paramedic and emergency care practitioner Stuart Rutland.
Mr Rutland, 31, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, said: ``I was out running one day, listening to my iPod, and began thinking about how much I take my paramedic skills for granted.
“For a person with no clinical training to come across someone collapsed, in public or at home, must be terrifying.
“Hopefully, the audio files will be of support to someone in this position, although they are not meant to be a substitute for a first-aid course or for the advice given by the emergency control centre.”
The information can be found at www.sussexambulance.nhs.uk