Medicine on board

Nobody wants to fall ill, especially not during the trip. However, often it is not in our hand if things go as smoothly as planned. This is why we carefully took precautions to be ready for the worst case – hoping it would never come. We measured our medical need alongside our longest trip without the possibility to go on land: the Bay of Biscay. Should something happen during that time, it could take up to three days without access to medical care. To be prepared we took the course ‘medicine on board’ which is given by the Kreuzer division of the DSV. It was a weekend very well spent!

To show us the worst case, we were confronted with all sorts of bloody pictures (one example was a poor fellow who scalped himself when his head got caught on the door frame), but quickly we delved into theory and practice. In the end, everyone was able to practice their sewing skills on a pork knuckle. The course was also helpful to get an idea of what medical equipment we would need for our trip. We followed our three day principle as well as the most common and most frequently occurring health problems on board. We then discussed our list with a emergency doctor in Henning’s firm as well as with our doctor and a friend of our’s who is an pharmacist. She then also helped us out with the acquisition of the drugs. She even categorized and labeled every product according to the rules of the international on-board pharmacy – thanks again!

We also have the book ‘Medicine at see’ on board and like it as a thorough book for medical amateurs. In case of emergency it quickly leads from symptoms to first diagnoses and therapy options. The drugs are also organized according to the international on-board pharmacy rules. Additionally, we always had our satellite phone with us to be able to access medical advice via phone.

In practice, we always have a little first aid kit next to the stairs to react quickly to any emergency. This came in handy for many little cutting wounds. Two meters further along, at the entrance of our workshop, we store the first aid kit ‘Sailing’. It can quickly be accessed and be opened up in the pantry. The drugs and other tools are in a cool space in our little stern bunk. Everything is packaged in plastic bags and labeled according to international codification.

Fortunately, we only needed a minimal part of our on-board pharmacy, mostly the ‘classics’: one of our guests had a horrible stomach bug and nothing seemed to help. At last, Sylvia injected an antiemetic; an infusion would have been the last resort. Drugs against stomach bugs had to be used a couple of times.

In Scotland, Henning suffered a bad contusion at the lower leg, when he slipped and fell on the metal part of the railing. He then had an allergic reaction to the salve, which had to be treated. We also had to treat minor cuts quite frequently, because all our knifes were very sharp. Once we almost had to sew a deeper wound on Sylvia’s violin hand because the butterfly bandages were excellent. Besides these little mishaps, we only used the occasional painkiller to treat headaches and some drugs against seasickness. Thank goodness we did not need more than that!

Lastly, we also wanted to do something for prevention: before we started our trip, be were gifted TRX bands. However, we must admit, after a long day at sea we often felt that we had enough sport for one day… Luckily, we had our little bikes with us!

The following list may help a sailor, who is planning a similar route to ours:

Medical equipment and medication list “Amazing Grace”

Basic configuration:
First aid Kit and Emergency box “sailing”

Additional medical equipment (without personnel medication):
(Literature „Medizin auf See“ ISBN 978-3-88412-488-8)

Bordmedizinische No Markenname Einheiten Packungen
1.01..2 Paracodin 10 mg Tabl., Reizhusten 13stk 1 Packung
1..03 Salbutamol, Dosieraerosol 1Dosieraer. 1 Packung
2.09..2 Fraxiparine 0,8 10 Fertigspr. 1 Packung
3 Tannacomp, Durchfälle 20 stk 1 Packung
3 Motilium Tropfen 10 mg 30ml 1 Packung
3..01 MCP 10 mg Tabl. , Erbrechen 20stk 1 Packung
3..02 Paspertin 10mg/2ml Ampullen, Injekt. 5 Ampullen 1 Packung
3.04..1 Pantoprazol dura 40mg, tabl. 100 stk 1 Packung
3..05 Iberogast 20ml Tropfen 20ml 2 Packung
3..06 Imodium akut lingual 12 Schmelztabl. 1 Packung
3..07 Elotrans Pulver, Durchfall 10 Beutel 1 Packung
5 Wobenzym plus ca.750 tabl. 1 Packung
5 Novaminsulfon 500mg Tropfen 50ml 1 Packung
5 Novaminsulfon 500mg tabl. 48stk 1 Packung
5..01 Thomapyrin 20stk 2 Packung
5..01 Aspirin complex granulat 20 stk 1 Packung
5..04 Voltaren Resinat 20stk 1 Packung
5..04.1 Ibuprofen 600 mg 50stk 1 Packung
5.04..1 Ibuprofen 600 mg 100 stk 1 Packung
5..05 Buscopan 10 mg 20 dragees 1 Packung
5..09 Lidocaion-HCL 2% Lösungen, 5ml 10 stk 1 Packung
7..01 VomexA 20 dragees 1 Packung
7..03 Scopoderm TTS ,Pflaster Übelkeit 5stk 1 Packung
8..01 AmoxiHexal Antibiotik. 1000 mg 20stk 1 Packung
8..01 AmoxiHexal Antibiotik. 750 mg 30stk 1 Packung
8..06 Clindamycin Antibiotik. 600mg 19stk 1 Packung
9..01 nobite hautspray 100ml 1 Packung
10..01 Desloratadin 5mg Kapseln, Antihistam. 20 stk 1 Packung
10..03 Prednisolon AL 50mg Tabl., Cortison 50stk 1 Packung
11..01 Infusionslösung 500ml 1 stk 4 Packung
11..03 Butterfly 8 stk 8 stk
11..03 Venenkatheter 20G, 14G 1+1 2 stk
11..03 Infusionsgerät/schläuche 4 stk 4 stk
14 Solaraze gel 50g gel 1 Packung
14..01 Bepanthen Salbe 20g Salbe 1 Packung
14..01 MediGel Lipogel, akute u chron. Wunde 20g Salbe 1 Packung
14..03 BetaCreme 1mg 25g Creme 1 Packung
14..06 Fucidine 20mg Creme 15g Creme 1 Packung
14..08 Aciclovir akut Creme 2g Creme 1 Packung
15 Cationorm Augentropfen Befeuchtung 5 einzeldosen 1 Packung
15.00..1 Berberil Nedo Augentropf. 10 einzeldosen 1 Packung
15.00..3 Prednisolon Augensalbe (auch Gerst.k.) 5 g Salbe 1 Packung
15.02..1 Ofloxacin-Ophtal Augentropf., Einzeld. 10 einzeldosen 1 Packung
15.02..1 Ofloxacin-Ophtal Augentropf. 5ml 1 Packung
16.01..1 Otalgan Tropfen mit Cortison 10g 1 Packung
16.01..2 Panotile Cipro 1 mg, Ohrentropfen 20 einzeld. 3 Packung
16 . 03    .. Otriven, einzeldosispipetten 40 stk 2 Packung
16.05..1 Gelo Revoice Halstabletten 20stk 1 Packung
18..01.3 octenisept wund+schleimhautantisept. 250ml 1 Packung
19..01 Metalline Kompresse 10×12 cm 10stk 1 Packung
19..01 ES-Kompressen, 7,5×7,5cm , 25x2st. 25x 2stk 1 Packung
19..18 Wundpflaster wasserdicht 5 stk, 10x6cm 1 Packung
19. Jan Klammerpflaster Leukostrip 3x6mmx76 4x3mmx38mm 1 Packung
19. Jan Porofix,Klammerpfl. 2,5×12,5 cm 10stk 1 Packung
20..11 Nadeln 5x 20Gx2 3/4″
21..01 Spritzen, verschiedene Gr. 12 stk 12 stk
21..02 Nadeln 2x gr.1,10xgr.20
Skalpell 3stk 3stk
22..07 Stethoskop 1stk 1 Packung
Kältesofortkompresse einmalig 2stk 2 Packung
Latexhandschuhe 100stk 1 Packung
22..08 Visomat, Blutdruckmessgerät 1stk 1 Packung
23..04 Guedel Mundstück, Beatmung 2stk 2 Pack
Sonstiges Blutzuckermessgerät Accu-Chek Mobile 1stk 1 Packung
Sonstiges COMBUR 10 Urinschnelltest 50stk 1 Packung