"First Aid" (Russian: Скорая помощь, romanized: Skoraya pomoshch) is an 1887 short story by Anton Chekhov.

[1] In the 27 June 1884 letter from Voskresensk to Nikolai Leykin, Chekhov related one occasion from his practice as a doctor, several details of which proved to be close to those described in the story.

The men around him, though, take this for the sign that "the soul half-left his body" and are very keen to bring 'the drowned one' to life, by throwing him up into the air on a burlap, as well as performing the 'artificial respiration' routine (which nobody knows apparently how to do properly).

Semyonov, who wrote a book of memoirs on Leo Tolstoy, the latter, while praising Chekhov the humourist, considered some of his humour difficult to understand, citing "First Aid" as an example.

[3] A. Basargin, reviewing the first volume of Chekhov's Complete Works, mentioned "First Aid" as the story "that depicts the helplessness of our peasants when it comes to all things medical.