The Cruiser’s Medicine Chest
Whilst preparing for the next cruise of “Morgane” a lot of thought has gone into the medical equipment and drugs to carry. This is not an easy subject to tackle for the layman, nor I suspect for a medical professional.The equipment is one thing as most of it a one-off purchase but the drugs on the other hand are expensive and have a short self-life.
The commercially operated yachts that I have worked on have all had a full medical kit as defined by the MCA (the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency) for category-0 vessels (unrestricted operating area). This kit includes all kinds of weird and wonderful equipment, oxygen giving sets, airways, chest drains, catheters and lots of controlled drugs. You can build your own kit or buy them ready made and even have the suppliers manage the expiry dates of the contents for you. Some of the companies that supply kits also provide various levels of support in the form of doctors trained in telemedicine techniques.
If you want to see the full MCA ship’s medicine chest you can read MSN1768 which runs to 37 pages.
We decided to go with a basic but broad spectrum medicine chest mainly focused on treating travel bugs, controlling infection, and moderate pain control, along with a first aid kit that would allow us to fix up the usual sailing bangs, bruises and cuts. We consulted various sources, many books (some are listed at the end of this article), the pharmacy at the KEMH (King Edward Memorial Hospital) in Stanley, and considered our own medical capabilities. Friends recommended the website of Dr. Mark Anderson who provides information on his version of a cruising medical kit.
One book that we find very useful is “Where there is no Doctor”; which is pitched as a village health care handbook for remote/third-world communities. The book covers first-aid, diagnosis and treatment of many ailments with basic equipment and drugs and assumes that the reader has little, or no, medical training. You can download a pdf version for free from http://hesperian.org/books-and-resources/
After all our research we came up with a contents list for Morgane’s” medicine chest. Some items are obvious but many others are less so; for example if there is ever going be a female aboard it is wise to carry pregnancy test kits not so much for obvious use but as an aid in diagnosis to eliminate the cause of symptoms that may be associated with pregnancy. I post our list here not as a definitive guide but for discussion and comment. What do you think?
| Use | Item |
|---|---|
| Allergies | Cetirizine 10mg Tablets |
| Allergies | Diphenhydramine, 25mg capsules (Benadryl) |
| Allergies | Hydrocortisone cream 1% |
| Allergies / Sea Sickness | cyclizine HCl 50mg tablets |
| Allergies / Sea Sickness / Insomonia | Promethazine 25mg Tablets |
| Analgesia | Buffered aspirin, 323mg tablets |
| Analgesia | Co-codamol 8/500 Tablets |
| Analgesia | Paracetamol / codine |
| Analgesia | Paracetamol 500mg Tablets |
| Analgesia | Soluble aspirin |
| Analgesia / anti-inflamatory | Ibuprofen 400mg Tablets |
| Anaphylaxis | Epipen autoinjector |
| Burns | Flamzaine cream |
| Congestion | Pseudoephedrine 60mg Tablets |
| Congestion | Xylometazoline nasal spray |
| Exacerbation of asthma / Chest infection | Prednisolone 5mg Tablets |
| First aid | Band Aids |
| First aid | Bandage, elastic wrap, 2", 3", 4" |
| First aid | Bandage, triangular |
| First aid | Emergency (foil) blankets |
| First aid | Forceps |
| First aid | Gauze (trauma) pads, 5"x9" or 8"x10" |
| First aid | Gauze bandage rolls, 1, 2, 3 |
| First aid | gloves, surgical |
| First aid | Neck collar |
| First aid | Non-stick sterile bandages, assorted |
| First aid | Scalpels, disposable (#11 and/or #12 blades) |
| First aid | Steri-strips |
| First aid | Sterile gauze pads, 3x3" or 4x4" |
| First aid | Super glue |
| First aid | Suture material (non-absorbable monofilament nylon on curved needle, suture sizes 3/0 and 4/0) |
| First aid | tape, adhesive cloth, 10m |
| First aid | tape, paper or silk (hypoallergenic), 10m |
| First aid | Tegaderm transparent wound dressing |
| First aid | Tweezers |
| Gastri-intesinal disorders | Bisacodyl 5mg Tablets |
| Gastri-intesinal disorders | Dioralyte Sachets |
| Gastri-intesinal disorders | Loperamide 2mg Capsules |
| Gastri-intesinal disorders | Ranitidine 150mg Tablets |
| Gastri-intesinal disorders | Senna 7.5mg Tablets |
| General supplies | Acetic Acid (vinegar) |
| General supplies | Alcohol, surgical, 70% |
| General supplies | Thermometer, hypothermia |
| General supplies | Thermometer, standard oral |
| Infection | Amoxicillin-clavulantate, 1g tablets |
| Infection | Chloramphenicol eye ointment |
| Infection | Ciprofloxacin 250mg Tablets |
| Infection | Co-amoxiclav 375mg Tablets (contains penicillin) |
| Infection | Fluconazole 150mg Capsules |
| Infection | Mebendazole 100mg Tablets |
| Infection | Metronidazole 200mg Tablets |
| Infection | Miconazole 2% cream |
| Infection | Povidone iodine 10% solution (Betadine), 1oz bottle or swabsticks |
| Lice | Permetihrin shampoo or cream |
| Pregnancy | Pregnancy test kit |
| Sea Sickness | Cinnarazine 15mg Tablets |
| Sea Sickness | hyoscine hydrobromide 300 ug tablets |
| Sea Sickness | Scopoderm (Hyoscine) Patches |
| Toothache | Clove Oil |
| Toothache/tooth repair | Refilit and Recapit tubes |
And here are links to some of the books that we use or have used to research our medical kit.
The MCA’s “The Ship Captain Medical Guide” is available for download from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ship-captains-medical-guide
Hey pal,
You should check out the watergel products, pretty useful for burns…
Thanks Stew, I’ll have a look. Timely comment as I burnt my leg the other day. I was welding stainless steel and piece of slag jumped off and got inside my trouser leg; must have been quite comical to see me trying to shake it out!
Had a simular long list, lucky enough not to use much under 4 yrs. Should ad second skin (Compeed etc) that comes in handy in places when cuts take forever to heal. So does really good tape, Lekoplast for example that really stucks. And a liter of pure aloe vera. And a couple of kilos of baby-swipes: general body cleaning, oil from motor, salt removal from skin – the best 🙂
Never go anywhere without “second skin” so didn’t even think to put it on the list! 🙂
I suppose that if you have a visit to the dentist before departing you shouldn’t have to have any problem with toothache. I wonder if you don’t carry any antibiotic cream for mosquitoes bites getting infected, a local antibiotic such as mupirocin. It’s a basic in my first aids box!
Shouldn’t really need to use an antibiotic for an insect bite. I have only had antibiotics twice in my life; once for appendicitis and once for a severe dose of travelers tummy. We have topical antibiotic cream on the list anyway just in case, and as Nemo mentioned Aloe vera etc..
Well, I suppose any medicine chest is so personal as your own undies… LOL. My girl is prone to make cellulitis (kind of skin infection) on every bite and sometimes that cream has proved to be effective in case of other cuts or skin injuries but of course it’s not a must. What about any medicine for ear’s ache or conjunctivitis? I’m just wondering…
Yep the Chloramphenicol is for the eyes.
Sorry, I get lost with the names in english, LOL
Yes, and the names listed here are the British English versions as they are what the MCA list, are what I am familiar with, and it’s the language of the pharmacy here in Stanley – for anybody else looking for US generic names Wikipedia or one of the drug cross-reference sites are a good place to start.