Ten years after the first edition this is a welcome update from two sailors who have a huge amount of medical experience. Dr Mackenzie as a retired Surgeon Commander RN, was a consultant in renal and intensive care while also an advisor on the medical aspects of yachting to for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. He was also an RYA Yachtmaster instructor and examiner. Dr Briggs is a consultant in intensive care and anesthesia and the managing director of Medical Support Offshore – providing training for many top sailors and others working at sea.
The book is written entirely from a sailor’s point of view, from a quick memory jog on passage planning to crew selection and roles and how to put a good medical kit together. The book then has helpful two page synopses on how to examine a crew member who is injured or ill and how to take a history. The chapters are set out with at-a-glance guides with panels, linked by arrows that take you through the procedures you will need to deal with each situation. The medical pages begin with emergency care and lifesaving first aid – with more detailed chapters covering the range of conditions that need to be treated from resuscitation to burns. After this there are sections on Trauma and Accidents, Medical Disorders (which include stings and seasickness); Emergency Medical Procedures (chest drains/splints, slings etc) before a section called Appendices which give proforma pages on things like a Medical Screening Questionaire, Vital Signs Monitoring Chart, Kit List, Immunizations and Common Drugs Guides and even a proforma for Man Overboard.
The latter chapter does include a Continued Monitoring panel for when the casualty is back aboard and stabilised with a helpful Watch For Deterioration notice but it does not mention secondary drowning – which can occur many hours after a near drowning experience and is a complication caused by having had some water in the lungs (in our humble understanding of it).
We can see this book being a must for every time we go to sea. The comprehensive detail and the clear layout with the no-nonsense step by step procedures on how to deal with each case make a complex subject seemingly easy and straightforward to follow. Of course it will help if you keep up your first aid knowledge with practical courses but then this book acts as a toolkit for saving life and curing or alleviating many illnesses and disorders at sea. DH
Pub Adlard Coles, 2018, flexiback, 224pp, £18.99
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