We wanted to know. So we asked you and here are the results of our June Poll...

We LOVE feedback at Red Square Medical! It helps us to grow and develop.

So, we asked our Facebook followers what would they choose to add to a basic first aid course, to make it more suitable for sailors or power boaters?

We gave the option of Basic Trauma Management, or Common Medical Conditions… and we had an outright winner!

A whopping 70% of our respondents said they’d like to know more about Basic Trauma Management to help them stay safer at sea. We also had other suggestions around using a defibrillator, and wound management and closure - which kind of fits in with the trauma management too.

Trauma Management is really quite simple when you get to grips with it, but often feared at first! There are lots of algorithms around to make accurate, rapid assessments, enabling you to make the right decisions in relation to casualty care onboard, or whether you need to get the casualty to definitive care ashore.

Of course, we keep hinting at some exciting news on the way, and this research was pretty important stuff in the grand scheme of things. As we’ve said before, we firmly believe that the RYA First Aid at Sea course is a fabulous starting point for anyone interested in salty medical training. But, for anyone venturing further than a couple of miles offshore, help in an emergency can be a long time coming, leaving you to manage a boat, possibly a crew, and a casualty.

We’ve already talked about the high risks of traumatic injuries on boats in previous blogs. While taking risk mitigation steps to avoid them is the ideal situation, we want to make sure you’re ready for any eventuality onboard.

We’ll be making an announcement very soon, about a new suite of training courses, specifically created for leisure sailors and powerboaters. It’s something we’ve been working on for a while and we’re really excited that we’re getting close to launching!

As always, we’d love to hear what you think, and watch this space for more details coming soon!