Offshore Medicine - So, I wrote an E-book

[Dhillen]

Cruising is about giving and I have been giving that some thought lately. We have always found the cruising community willing, ready and able to lend a hand to any sailor in need. I try and keep the good karma going by doing the same when possible.

Previously, in our pre-children lives my wife and I went cruising for three years. Now that we have little ones we plan to take off again. However, children aboard I believe requires a whole new level of preparedness. To that end, I have been studying.

I took this great Offshore Medicine course taught by Wilderness Medical Associates. It was three intensive hands-on days and I learned some amazing, life-saving stuff. After the course to keep things straight in my head I thought I would type out all my notes, print them up and keep a copy on board. Then I thought, this stuff is so important I should make it available to others.

Now, if you can take the course, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it. Learning by doing is far, far better than by reading. Wilderness Medical Associates (with whom I have no financial connection) teaches it around the US and SSCA members get a 10% discount. But you may find the e-book I put together a good primer and useful to have on board. If it helps in a medical emergency then, so much the better.

Offshore emergencies require a much different response, believe it or not, than EMT training, or wilderness medicine where the focus is on keeping the patient alive for a few minutes or at most a day or two until help arrives. Sailing between Panama and the Marquesas, if you have a medical emergency you will have to do far more than keep the patient going for a few hours. You are looking at many days, maybe a week or more of intensive care. Do you know what to do?

Alright, so this is long enough. I put up a new blog and it is still a work in progress. If interested, just click on the e-book and download it for free. Pass it along to anyone else you think might benefit. Any errors or omissions in the book are mine alone.

Sail safe.

Dhillen

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by Dhillen

Cruising is about giving and I have been giving that some thought lately. We have always found the cruising community willing, ready and able to lend a hand to any sailor in need. I try and keep the good karma going by doing the same when possible.

Previously, in our pre-children lives my wife and I went cruising for three years. Now that we have little ones we plan to take off again. However, children aboard I believe requires a whole new level of preparedness. To that end, I have been studying.

I took this great Offshore Medicine course taught by Wilderness Medical Associates. It was three intensive hands-on days and I learned some amazing, life-saving stuff. After the course to keep things straight in my head I thought I would type out all my notes, print them up and keep a copy on board. Then I thought, this stuff is so important I should make it available to others.

Now, if you can take the course, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it. Learning by doing is far, far better than by reading. Wilderness Medical Associates (with whom I have no financial connection) teaches it around the US and SSCA members get a 10% discount. But you may find the e-book I put together a good primer and useful to have on board. If it helps in a medical emergency then, so much the better.

Offshore emergencies require a much different response, believe it or not, than EMT training, or wilderness medicine where the focus is on keeping the patient alive for a few minutes or at most a day or two until help arrives. Sailing between Panama and the Marquesas, if you have a medical emergency you will have to do far more than keep the patient going for a few hours. You are looking at many days, maybe a week or more of intensive care. Do you know what to do?

Alright, so this is long enough. I put up a new blog and it is still a work in progress. If interested, just click on the e-book and download it for free. Pass it along to anyone else you think might benefit. Any errors or omissions in the book are mine alone.

Sail safe.

Dhillen

Thank you. Illness and/or injury are one of my greatest concerns when traveling off the beaten path and a First Aid Guide on a bookshelf, unless read and studied well beforehand, is pretty worthless in the event. I'm not an e-reader kind'a guy and so will print your book out and I do appreciate what I've read of it thus far.

svHyLyte

[Gabrieln]

Hi,

How do I reach your blog?

Tks,

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by Gabrieln

Hi,

How do I reach your blog?

Tks,

It's at the bottom of his sig.

[Gabrieln]

Not on the iPhone app.

I'll check thru the website.

Tks,

[mikereed100]

Very nicely done. It's worth it for the pictures alone. One comment though; as an urgent care doc I have never encountered your method for reducing a dislocated shoulder. Normally the forearm is rotated away from the body, not towards it. Were you testing your cough remedy when you typed that section?

By the way, good comments on the viscous lidocaine. This is something that is in every ER and Urgent Care but is sadly underused.

[EzzyD]

Originally Posted by Gabrieln

Hi,

How do I reach your blog?

Tks,

try The Sea Is Salt

The PDF download is here: http://www.theseaissalt.com/wp-conte...e-Medicine.pdf

(for others that may have the same problem...)

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by Dhillen

Cruising is about giving and I have been giving that some thought lately. We have always found the cruising community willing, ready and able to lend a hand to any sailor in need. I try and keep the good karma going by doing the same when possible.

Previously, in our pre-children lives my wife and I went cruising for three years. Now that we have little ones we plan to take off again. However, children aboard I believe requires a whole new level of preparedness. To that end, I have been studying.

I took this great Offshore Medicine course taught by Wilderness Medical Associates. It was three intensive hands-on days and I learned some amazing, life-saving stuff. After the course to keep things straight in my head I thought I would type out all my notes, print them up and keep a copy on board. Then I thought, this stuff is so important I should make it available to others.

Now, if you can take the course, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it. Learning by doing is far, far better than by reading. Wilderness Medical Associates (with whom I have no financial connection) teaches it around the US and SSCA members get a 10% discount. But you may find the e-book I put together a good primer and useful to have on board. If it helps in a medical emergency then, so much the better.

Offshore emergencies require a much different response, believe it or not, than EMT training, or wilderness medicine where the focus is on keeping the patient alive for a few minutes or at most a day or two until help arrives. Sailing between Panama and the Marquesas, if you have a medical emergency you will have to do far more than keep the patient going for a few hours. You are looking at many days, maybe a week or more of intensive care. Do you know what to do?

Alright, so this is long enough. I put up a new blog and it is still a work in progress. If interested, just click on the e-book and download it for free. Pass it along to anyone else you think might benefit. Any errors or omissions in the book are mine alone.

Sail safe.

Dhillen

Very good points. If people were half as concerned about this as they are about guns aboard or how long the other guy's keel is, they'd be much better off, I suspect.

[minaret]

Wilderness Medical is awesome, very informative. My buddy Paul works with them here in Seattle, you may have met him. I took the course even though my wife is a nurse. Worth every penny.

[Dhillen]

Originally Posted by mikereed100

Very nicely done. It's worth it for the pictures alone. One comment though; as an urgent care doc I have never encountered your method for reducing a dislocated shoulder. Normally the forearm is rotated away from the body, not towards it. Were you testing your cough remedy when you typed that section?

By the way, good comments on the viscous lidocaine. This is something that is in every ER and Urgent Care but is sadly underused.

Thanks for the comments from a pro!

Regarding the reduction of dislocations, the instructor said there are a hundred different ways to do it and he even showed us a video on YouTube of how NOT to do it. The way I described was the way he does it and we all "practiced" it on each other in the class. However, for 10 years or so he was doing it a different way and only recently switched over to the above method.

The most important thing I took away from his reduction demonstration was to get the patient to relax and that the joint "wants" to go back together again.

Cheers.

Dhillen

[DeepFrz]

Thanks for the post Dhillen and the book.

[bobconnie]

Over the years Connie being an ER Nurse and me being an X Viet Nam Corpsman, have let us aid some other cruisers, and ourselfs ! any offshore or emergency medical first aid courses are Very Good safety plans for offshore cruisers!! I can think of a dozen times Connie has repaired my fingers, toes, head and many other parts of my body Ive been able to mess up over the years we have been messing about in boats !! Sometimes the smallest injury can be a Big problem if not treated soon and properly ! Infection can happen anytime a small wound is not taken care of quickly! I would think that at least a simple course in offshore medical care would be or should be a nessasary item for a single hander before he takes off in to the big world !! Just my 2 cents

[Teknav]

Stock up on RUM! It's a good disinfectant, besides making a punch. Iodine solution to be used for the scrapes and cuts you get from swimming near or touching the corals. Hydro-cortisone 10% is good for cuts that need to be covered by a layer of hydro-cortisone topped off with a band-aid. Ibuprofen...well you know what it is used for. For an abscess...dental or otherwise...hold a needle into the fire until red, then prick the abscess to drain it and to release the pressure created. Iso-propyl alcohol, to clean external areas that need more attention. Medication for swimmer's ear (prescription). Antibiotics for mild wound infection. Enough Vicodin/Percoset/Darvon/hydrocodone/Tylenol-3 for two weeks, in case you have a fracture (by prescription). Flexeril...a muscle relaxant (by prescription), for two weeks. Suntan lotion SPF 50+. In addition to your medications, this was a short "must have" list for your boat. Mauritz

[Gazelle Family]

I get a 404 error message at the seaissalt site and cant download the E book

[mcarling]

I'm signed up for an STCW95 course "Person in Charge of Medical Care on board ship" in April. The STCW95 courses should be available more or less worldwide.