On Board Medical Kits

[Laser310]

We had a heart lung transplant specialist and a geriatric medicine consultant on our crossing. The latter was probably more appropriate given the make up of the crew.

we once had a surgeon who was the head of emergency medicine at a large hospital on board for a 4 day ocean passage

It was a disaster...

it turned out he was addicted to valium.., and probably some other drugs as well.

 

[roaringgirl]

I'm a sailor/General Practitioner and have been wondering how other people approach this issue. For offshore passages I agree it's very sensible to have a good supply of medications including antibiotics etc, and either medical knowledge onboard or the ability to get telemedical advice. I feel that there is quite a big difference between basic trauma management (suturing, splinting etc which can be learned in a few days) and dealing with illness/medical emergencies where more knowledge is needed to make safe decisions.

I put together a fairly comprehensive medical kit for an ARC boat last year. For me this just involved buying the prescription medicines from a pharmacy but without a medical license options would include a private GP consultation (preferably with a doctor with an interest in travel medicine or sailing) or using one of the bigger companies like Nomad Travel or MSOS who provide medical kits for ships. Some NHS GPs are still willing to provide private prescriptions for travel medical kits but this is becoming rarer as the legislation is unsurprisingly quite complex. There's a good review of some of the issues involved in prescribing for expeditions/'what if' use here: DEFINE_ME.

I've wondered in the past whether there would be much interest in a private medical service aimed at yachties to go over travel plans and supply a suitably comprehensive medical kit, medical advice etc. A survey of ARC participants a few years ago suggested that the majority didn't organise their medical supplies until less than a month before departure which made me think perhaps people just don't think about this stuff enough to create a decent market, but if anyone thinks this is a great idea and I'll become rich and retire aboard my new Garcia, do let me know!

Our buddy boat (Westerly 49, currently in Tahiti) subscribes to a telemedecine service and has an extensive kit on board that is known to the guy on the other end of the phone.

We have a relationship with a private travel doctor in the UK and also carry an extensive medical kit. When we had a dental emergency mid-Atlantic we phoned our NHS dentist who advised us what action to take.

I know a Swedish doctor currently cruising in the Tuamotus who works on call as a Telemedecine doctor.

If you're going to buy a Garcia, buy it new so you can specify a better rig than the ones I've seen around.