Visit our Popular Forums

farmall.dude · 12-02-2015, 11:53

Being a Critical Care nurse, I was very tempted to comment on some responses. Instead I decided not to make enemies of strangers and just congratulate the OP for thinking about safety. Having an AED aboard certainly can't hurt anything! All the ones I'm familiar with are Idiot Proof. A trained chimp could operate one. If someone's dead on deck, using an AED won't make them deadder if it doesn't work. If it does work, well... they'll be glad you had it handy.
TPA? That's another story... Oops, I wasn't going to write that...

Wannabe-007 · 12-02-2015, 13:12

There are many more qualified than me here, but for what its worth, here's my tuppence.

There is a strong relationship between speed of intervention and survival.

In the events we are concerned with, speed of intervention is not a problem. CPR can be started immediately to keep the life blood pumping while a third crew member (ideally) preps the AED.
The patient now has a chance of survival, and those chances are dramatically higher than if this had happened at your house and you'd called the paramedics.

My greatest fear is loosing my wife overboard and i'm about to invest in, among other things, a DSC, AIS, SART PLB to pin to her bikini or braid in her hair... If she needs it, I am likely to be the only chance she has. I'll break her ribs, follow the guiding voice on the AED and pray.

The likely scenarios are MOB and subsequent drowning, or electric shock.
People want to talk about fatality rates and chances of success.
If you really want to know about survival odds, we need to look at the right scenarios...
So the relevant question is: "How many boats, equipped with an AED and persons qualified to perform CPR have saved / lost lives in the even of heart 'failure' due to electric shock or drowning?"

At the end of the day, I know my chances are slim. If I lost the Admiral

, or a crew memeber... my grief would be tempered by the knowledge that I had tried everything and there was nothing else I could have done.

How depressing - i'll lighten the mood with this handy icon of another CPR scenario...

sailorboy1 · 12-02-2015, 13:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wannabe-007

How depressing - i'll lighten the mood with this handy icon of another CPR scenario...

sorry, didn't see it in time

the horse died

Kenomac · 14-02-2015, 12:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by farmall.dude

Being a Critical Care nurse, I was very tempted to comment on some responses. Instead I decided not to make enemies of strangers and just congratulate the OP for thinking about safety. Having an AED aboard certainly can't hurt anything! All the ones I'm familiar with are Idiot Proof. A trained chimp could operate one. If someone's dead on deck, using an AED won't make them deadder if it doesn't work. If it does work, well... they'll be glad you had it handy.
TPA? That's another story... Oops, I wasn't going to write that...

Please comment, you won't make an enemies. I welcome your input, and no we don't have any TPA onboard, nor do we plan to.

I'm at the point where I can still return the unit for a full refund if I change my mind. I agree with your not going to hurt a dead person with CPR or the use of an AED comment, I use the same expression myself. Fire away...

farmall.dude · 15-02-2015, 07:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Please comment, you won't make an enemies. I welcome your input, and no we don't have any TPA onboard, nor do we plan to.

I'm at the point where I can still return the unit for a full refund if I change my mind. I agree with your not going to hurt a dead person with CPR or the use of an AED comment, I use the same expression myself. Fire away...

That TPA statement wasn't directed at you. I just find it highly suspect that a real medical professional would even consider having TPA aboard. I like the commend someone else posted about having room for a CT Scanner, exactly what I was thinking. TPA is a VERY DANGEROUS drug, but used in an ICU with extensive pre-qualification, it works very well. However, it's use (at least where I've worked) in the last 10 or so years has diminished quite a lot. Instead they go straight to cath lab to open the artery. Much less dangerous with much better results.

**weavis** · 15-02-2015, 08:09

I just asked myself one question.

'What are you going to do to keep the patient alive after the unit has done its job?'

Kenomac · 15-02-2015, 08:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by weavis

I just asked myself one question.

'What are you going to do to keep the patient alive after the unit has done its job?'

Hand them over to an MD like you asap.

Since most of our cruising is what most consider coastal, we're only looking at opening up that first hour window in order to get the victim to a hospital and give them a fighting chance. Not expecting to be half way across the Atlantic and be able to save someone and get them successfully to a hospital.