Marine First Aid Level 4 (VTQ)
Course Content
- Course Introduction
- Human anatomy and physiology for immediate emergency care
- Safety and Calling for Help
- What3Words - location app
- Marine band radios
- Marine VHF Radios
- Common Coastal Water Dangers
- Common Fresh Water Marine Dangers
- Emergency Flares
- LED Flares
- The Coastguard
- The Air Ambulance
- Personal Location Beacons
- Accident Prevention
- Boat Safety
- Calling for help
- Water safety tubes
- Types of Blankets
- Emergency response for hybrid and electric boats
- First Aid and Safety Equipment\
- Initial Assessment and Care
- Basic airway management in emergency care
- CPR
- AED
- Administration of oxygen therapy
- Drowning
- Choking
- Shock
- Bleeding
- Catastrophic Injury
- Injuries
- Hypothermia
- Illness
- FIrst Responder - Management of injuries
- Prioritising first aid
- Pelvic Injuries
- Spinal Injuries
- Rapid Extrication
- SAM Pelvic Sling
- Box Splints
- Spinal Injury
- Stabilising the spine
- Spinal Recovery Position
- Introduction to Spinal Boards
- The spinal board
- Using the Spinal Board
- The Scoop Stretcher
- Using the scoop stretcher
- Cervical collars
- Vertical C-Spine Immobilisation
- Joint examination
- Adult fractures
- Types of fracture
- First Responder - Management of trauma
- Elevated Slings
- Lower limb immobilisation
- Elevation Techniques
- Helmet Removal
- Different Types of Helmets
- The Carry Chair
- Applying Plasters
- Strains and Sprains and the RICE procedure
- Eye Injuries
- Electrical Injuries
- Foreign objects in the eye, ears or nose
- Nose bleeds
- Bites and stings
- Chest Injuries
- Foxseal chest seals
- Abdominal Injuries
- Treating Snake Bites
- Types of head injury and consciousness
- Dislocated Shoulders and Joints
- Other Types of Injury
- Dental Injuries
- First Responder - Management of medical conditions
- Asthma
- Asthma Spacers
- When an Asthma inhaler is not available
- Accuhaler®
- Heart Attack
- Warning signs of cardiac arrest and heart attack
- Heart Attack Position
- Aspirin and the Aspod
- Stable angina
- Hypertension
- Pulse Oximetry
- Epilepsy
- Epilepsy treatment
- Meningitis
- Diabetes
- Blood Sugar Testing
- Poisons and Food Poisoning
- Shock
- Near and secondary drowning
- Cold water shock
- Allergic Reactions and Anaphylaxis
- Course Summary
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Get StartedCPR for drowning casualties
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Now, one of the main dangers on a boat is drowning. Now, you are surrounded by water, if someone falls in the water, then there is a possible chance that they could drown. Now when someone drowns, then they can potentially be stopped breathing, or maybe they are just take a water in and they are still panicking, and you need to get them out of the water. Now, there are special procedures you would do in getting someone out of the water, but that's it for another type of training course. But the key thing, if you do find someone in the water, at least make sure you can get them out of the water safely. So get the boat close to them, pull them up, stop the engine, take it out of the gigs, you do not want the propeller going round while you are trying to drag someone out of the water. So once you get them out of the water and get them on to a firm surface, for example, we have got them here. The key difference with someone who has drowned over normal CPR is that we know why this person is not breathing, so we would do a breathing check in the same way, it is a head-tilt, chin-lift, and we would check to see for breathing for 10 seconds, exactly the same as CPR. But this person has stopped breathing because of a respiratory problem. The key difference with this is that the person has stopped breathing because of a repertory issue. They have gone in the water and they have drowned. The important thing here is, is that we do five breaths first, the hope with these five breaths is that we can get them breathing again, because it may be that the heart is still beating, but by giving that oxygen to start with, we can trigger their body into breathing again. So we do the same, but we know they are not breathing. Head-tilt, chin-lift, do the breathing check, once we have done that, we go back in there, open the head-tilt, chin-lift, we give five breaths, so we are just give breath, breath, breath, breath, breath. Once we have done that, if they are not showing any signs of life, then we go on to 30 compressions and then we revert to two. So, five breaths followed by 30 compressions, followed by two breaths, 32, and then we carry on. 32 is normal. The hope with this one, unlike waiting for an defibrillator, we may still have to wait for defibrillator for this patient, however, if they have drowned, the hope is is that we can get this patient breathing without the need for defibrillator because it is a respiratory tried problem. Finally, why we are talking about drowning, it may be that you have got someone in the water, you get them out, and they have taken water into their lungs, now, this is also dangerous because if water gets into the lungs, you can call it complications later on. So if you do have a patient who has gone in the water, taking water on, lots of coughing things, it is important that you also get them checked out by a medical professional.
Water Rescue and Drowning Response on Boats
Overview
Water poses significant risks on boats, particularly the danger of drowning. If someone falls into the water, quick and safe retrieval is crucial to prevent drowning.
Retrieval Procedure
- Approach: Bring the boat close to the person in the water, ensuring safety by stopping the engine and disengaging the propeller.
- Extraction: Pull the person out of the water onto a stable surface aboard the boat.
Response to Drowning
Breathing Assessment
Perform a breathing check using head-tilt and chin-lift technique. Assess for normal breathing or signs of drowning.
Initial Steps
- Breaths: Administer five rescue breaths to provide oxygen and attempt to initiate breathing.
- Compressions: If no signs of breathing, proceed with 30 chest compressions followed by two breaths.
- Continuation: Repeat cycles of 30 compressions and two breaths until signs of life or professional medical assistance arrives.
Considerations for Drowning Victims
If water has been ingested, monitor closely for complications and seek medical evaluation promptly to assess for potential respiratory issues.