Comparing Recommendations to Reality: First Aid Training and Equipment for Amateur Yacht Crews on Ocean Passages

The aim of this study was to establish the first aid skills possessed and equipment carried by sailors participating in the 2018 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers and to compare these with expert recommendations for skills and diagnostic/monitoring equipment to be carried aboard.

A questionnaire survey was done of 179 boats at Las Palmas, and 88 completed questionnaires were returned. The recommendations were derived from a Delphi study that recruited telemedical providers, first aid trainers, and doctors and nurses with experience in ocean crossing in a small boat. The results were considered with reference to the published literature on accidents and injuries in sailors.

Forty-two percent of boats had crew that had completed no or only 1 d of first aid training in the previous 5 y. Twenty-eight percent said that they had too little first aid training; lack of time was cited most frequently for not doing more training. Twenty-three percent only carried a basic or inshore medical kit. The Delphi study generated a core list of 6 skills and 11 pieces of diagnostic/monitoring equipment that should be available.

When compared, the results of the questionnaire and the Delphi study demonstrated a gap in knowledge/preparation among amateur, oceangoing yacht crews. There is a need for increased education about core first aid skills for sailing out of reach of outside assistance and useful diagnostic/monitoring equipment to have available.