The Ship Captain’s Medical Guide – Chapter 1 – First Aid

When a ship is in port, or near to port where hospital and other expert medical attention are available, the first aid treatment necessary aboard ship is similar to that practised ashore. At sea, in the absence of these facilities, trained ships’ officers are required to give types of treatment beyond that accepted as normal first aid. The content of this chapter covers the knowledge of first aid necessary for the safe and efficient immediate treatment of casualties before they are transported to the ship’s hospital or to a cabin for any necessary definitive treatment of the type described in Chapter 4. However, anyone aboard ship may find a casualty and every seaman should know three basic life-saving actions to be given immediately while waiting for trained help to arrive. These are: I to give artificial respiration by the mouth to nose/mouth method; I to place an unconscious casualty in the unconscious position; I to stop severe bleeding.