FIRST AID AT SEA -BEST BOOK?

[alisdair4]

I'm heading off to do a Medical First Aid at Sea course in a couple of months and would like to read-in. (It is a detailed, and quite expensive course, apparently).
Can any fellow forum-ites recommend a good text book?

Thanks in anticipation.

Alisdair

 

[Skyva_2]

The Ship Captains Medical Guide might be worth a look, available on line from the MCA via Google.

 

[Abigail]

Hi, we have the Mecial Guide and its ok. V V useful to have on board because the big ships carry it and so you can talk with their medical officers comparing diagrams, pages etc.

But there are many others and what you like best depends a bit on you personally. I keep pondering the barefoot dentist but it frightens me too much. We have several books and have done some training but keep a good look out for more; I wouldn't rave about any of them.

 

[roly_voya]

You basically have a massive jump from the likes of the ships captains guide or the st Johns/red cross manual to the next level up which is EMS/paramedic textbooks. There is nothing in between, your either a first aider or a qualified medic. An 'advanced' first aider is simple someone with lots of experience in different/difficult situations but the theory and what they are allowed to do is very little different. If you want to have a look at EMS guides there is a good supply here (plus equipment) - http://www.spservices.co.uk/content.php/get/company- its where I get work stuff from but don't get carried away, a solid grounding in basic first aid will save lives and you can't easily create an A&E facillity on board.

If you use the ships captains guide as the basis for first aid as Abigail says you can use it to comunicate with ships medical staff and also there is a Dr on call via SSB 24/7 who can give advice based on the book and standard supplies. The supply list is for comecial craft/paid crew where the captain has a legal duty of care and often a frequently changing crew list, its also a bit dated, your GP might be able to offer some useful updates, and there is a fair bit of stuff you are very unlikely to need (such as the drugs for emergency child birth and oxygen cylinders) so look through the list and leave out what you dont need for your particular crew but its still a useful start point.

PS - You dont have to buy it you can download it from the MCA web site - http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/query.htm?c...s+medical+guide
you will also find the medical stores list under the M notices just do a serch for medical stores

Good luck, hope you enjoy the course

 

[alisdair4]

Thanks to all - I've downloaded the MCA guide as it looks pretty comprehensive, and should be a good start (plus, it's free!)