T_I_2015_04_

86. http://www.theislander.net

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Dr. Ken Prudhoe

Club de Mar Medical Centre

(+34) 639 949 125

drken@clubdemar

medical.com

Horses for Courses –

Names for Medical Courses

Horses for courses is an

olde worlde saying drawn

from the equestrian world

and, put another way, it

is an expression “used for

saying that it is important to

choose suitable people for

particular activities because

everyone has different skills”

(Cambridge Dictionary).

Sounds simple enough and

makes a lot of sense but can

unravel a bit when the courses

sometimes go by different

names even when ultimately

they are referring to the

same training exercise. This

is certainly true about MCA

medical training courses and

I had an email in early March

bemoaning the plethora of

names used to describe the

old Ship Captain ́s Medical

course. For quite a few years

it has been called the Medical

Care Onboard Ship course

and, more recently, simply

Medical Care although the

official title is Proficiency in

Medical Care. To add to the

confusion, the email referred

to Medical Care at Sea and

the additional uncertainty

would understandably make

that person think twice before

parting with any money. This

was one of several unsolicited

outbursts of frustration from

yachties in the past few weeks

and, on the basis that three

“represents the full body of

public opinion”, it seemed

time to try to clarify the

names of the courses and

their inter-relationships.

The clincher when identifying

a course is to look for the

STCW criterion standard for

that course which, in the

case of Proficiency in Medical

Care is STCW Reg. VI/4 Sect.

A-VI/4-2 – this (immediately

forgettable!!) notation is

invaluable when deciding if a

particular course or certificate

is the right one for you. We

include it on our website

(see below) and it must be

included in the certificate

awarded on successful

completion of the course.

The eligibility requirement

for Medical Care training is

the Proficiency in Medical

First Aid certificate and this

is another potential pitfall

because it is often referred

to as the Advanced First Aid

course, being the medical

component of the Advanced

STCW. This other name is a

useful shorthand but can be

misleading/confusing when

looking at an unfamiliar

checklist of names. The STCW

criterion standard provides

the final authority and, for

this course, is STCW Reg.

VI/4 Sect. A-VI/4-1 which we

also quote on our website

to minimise uncertainty. It

must always be quoted on the

certificates issued and then it

is easier to check out at a later

date when thumbing through

a list of requirements before

sending stuff off to the MCA.

Guidance on these courses

is summarised in Marine

Information Note MIN 385

(M) “Medical First Aid and

Medical Care certification

requirements” and one

interesting point to emerge

from this is that the

certificates for Medical Care

(and the related Update/

Refresher course) are not

time-limited – in other

words, once having trained

to that level the certificate

provides paper evidence

which is respected indefinitely

for certification purposes.

However, anyone literally

providing medical care must

have a certificate which is less

than five years old and this

responsibility applies to the

Captain and anyone to whom

the Captain delegates the

responsibility of medical care.

The 2010 Manila Amendment

to the STCW Convention 1978

has introduced various five

yearly updating requirements

in certification but the

medical training courses seem

to have escaped for the time

being. The relevant document

to read is MIN 469 (M)

“Requirements for Updating

Training in Accordance with

the 2010 Manila Amendments

to the STCW Convention

1978”. Para 4 confirms that

the in-date certificate is

required for medical care

responsibility but (Annex A)

that Updating is not required

for Certification purposes. This

is consistent with MIN 385

(M), and previous advice from

the MCA, that evidence of

previous training to Medical

Care standard, irrespective of

when, is sufficient to confirm

eligibility for the Update

course if an individual is

seeking an in-date certificate

to be responsible for medical

care on-board.

In other words, an out-of-

date Medical Care/Update

certificate only requires the

three day Update course for

a new certificate and does

not oblige candidates to do

the full five day Medical Care

course unless time, budget

and motivation over-ride.

This is a particularly busy few

months for training providers

as boats come back from the

Caribbean and local vessels

wake up from winter yard

periods - lots of people are

busy using the lull before the

Mediterranean season to

do courses and to get their

qualifications in order. We

are running the MCA medical

courses almost monthly until

June and then again in the

autumn – and we do our best

to point the right horses to

the right courses!