First Aid and Medical at Sea

Illness and Injury Onboard

Most sailors happily cross oceans and sail thousands of miles without incident, but just like at home, accidents and illnesses can still happen. Dr Spike Briggs, sailor, intensive care and anaesthesia consultant and director of MSOS, estimates that the risks are:

• Require treatment - 1:10,000 crew miles
• Require external advice - 1:100,000 crew miles
• Require evacuation - 1:1,000,000 crew miles
• Life-threatening - 1:10,000,000 crew miles

There are some simple tips for reducing the risk of accidents and medical episodes onboard. These include:

• Avoid cooking with bare feet or flipflops
• Watch out for cuts when filleting fish
• Be aware of constipation - drink fluids and don't put off going to the toilet
• Take sea sickness medication if the forecast shows bad weather coming
• Take care when using the companionway steps
• Never let your head come into contact with the boom

We recorded three conversations between Paul Tetlow and Dr Spike Briggs, discussing the common problems onboard and what sailors can do to mitigate the risk and to prepare to treat and care for a patient.

Video 1: Illness and Injury

Medical Kits

Having a well-stocked and logically laid-out medical kit is important, but so is ensuring that the crew know what is in the kit and how to use it. If you subscribe to a telemedical support service like MSOS (www.msos.org.uk/), part of the service is usually a kit, so that if you need to call them for advice, their doctor will know what medicine and equipment you have available.

One way of organising your medical kit is into illness or injury type, for exmaple, for gastro-intestinal problems like constipation, diarrhoea or sickness, or for cuts and grazes. This makes it easier for crew to find what they need in an emergency.

For sailors taking part in one of our rallies, we provide a list of recommended medical equipment and medicines as part of the rally handbook.

Video 2: Medical Equipment

Video 3: Training

First aid at sea is different from first at at home. You can't call an ambulance to take the patient to the hospital, and while telemedical help is available for all sailors over the radio, you will need to feel confident to treat and care for the patient until they get better or help is at hand.

Training

A one-day first aid course is very basic, and a multi-day course like the STCW Medical First Aid is aimed at sailors and professional yacht crew. In-depth first aid courses are available in most countries. 

Make sure that more than one member of the crew has had training, or what will you do if they are the one who needs help?

Books

The Ship Captain's Medical Guide (ISBN 9780115534614) is an excellent reference book for diagnosing and treating patients, and The Skipper's Medical Emergency Handbook (ISBN 9781399413091) is a more digestible version for leisure sailors.