Short Courses Week - Day 1

Firstly, this is a bit overdue, so apologies for the lateness.  My energy has been consumed by these short courses and exams until now...

The week before last we had one whole week dedicated to our STCW '95 short courses.  STCW means Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping.  Basically, these are courses we legally have to do before we go away to sea - they ensure a minimum standard of training for people going to sea.

Our first course was Elementary First Aid which we had on Monday.  Aside from the knowledge I've picked up from Emily I was fairly clueless as to what we would do, especially as when we're together there is no point me getting involved (apart from log rolls, Emily!). 

The morning had us learning what to do upon arriving at the scene of someone injured, cpr, primary surveys etc.  We had the typical "Resusci Anne" doll for this (below) and were given a face shield to stop germ transfer! 

Although important, this was quite an amusing part of the morning.  Some people didn't realise their own strength and compressed her so much their hands must have been practically touching the floor.  Others were so light it was probably akin to tickling.  Anyway, everybody got there in the end. 

Following this we covered how to deal with choking victims.  Again this was important but amusing to get everyone acting it out.  We had another doll for this..."Choking Charlie"

For this one we had to learn how to manage a choking victim.  This included back blows/slaps and abdominal thrusts (sounds like something you'd do at the gym, but this is the new name for the previously known Heimlich Manoeuvre).  We had to put a ball into the dummy's mouth and perform these until it came out.

After lunch we studied shock, bleeding and burns, and moving a casualty.  So we had various parts where we were bandaging each other which was quite fun. 

It was a good day which I enjoyed, and when you're at sea I guess it's important to remember it as you can't just call an ambulance and wait for help to arrive!