General Course Information
Bespoke Courses
MSOS designs and runs specialised courses for specific client requirements, such as in-water rescue,
wilderness medicine, first aid for children, oxygen administration and casualty evacuation. There is a
distinct advantage in holding these courses on the client vessel, to increase the situational awareness of
crew. Courses can focus on using existing client medical kit and equipment, or trialling new items.
MSOS awarded runner-up in ACREW’s Best Superyacht Crew Training Award
MCA Approved Training Courses
MSOS is approved by the MCA to provide training courses such as Medical First Aid and Medical Care. In addition, MSOS also provides specialist courses on cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the use of oxygen and defibrillators, advanced wound repair and more. Familiarisation courses are also offered, upon delivery of a new kit to a boat.
MSOS courses place emphasis on teaching practical skills which will be of benefit in the event of medical problems offshore. The courses are also designed to teach crew how to use the equipment and medicines provided in their medical kits.
Courses may be held at the MSOS training centres in Palma, Southampton and Fort Lauderdale, or on board the client’s vessel.
MSOS instructors are all medically qualified, and have extensive experience as sailors. They know what it’s like to deal with anything from a sore throat in the North Atlantic, to a broken leg on the foredeck of a boat in the Southern Ocean.
MSOS Training Personnel
Amanda Hewson
Amanda has been a registered nurse and professional sailor for 20 years. She’s from a family of active sailors and has sailed extensively herself, covering 60000 nm at sea. She has nursed in the Outback with flying doctors, in refugee camps and offshore on oil rigs. She has also been the medic on multiple sailing races, the Sydney Hobart, the Fastnet, and the Rolex 600 amongst them.
Amanda has a master’s degree in Marine and International Medicine, and has worked widely with a number of yacht racing campaigns around the world.
If you have attended a course run by Amanda, you will have experienced the passion she has for marine medicine, being prepared and preventing trauma and illness at sea.
Clare Musk
Clare has worked in a variety of different fields within nursing, having started her career in Paediatrics, Emergency & Theatre medicine in Sydney. Alongside medical training for MSOS, she currently works in the operating room at Royal Cornwall Hospital and has witnessed a lot during her career in nursing.
On meeting her future husband, a professional sailor, Clare moved in to the Superyacht industry and was thrown in at the deep end, working on a professionally-crewed 75ft racing yacht.
This experience ignited Clare’s passion to protect and educate those in the yachting industry and she began working with MSOS as a Training Instructor in 2016. With such a personal connection, Clare feels strongly about equipping crew members with the knowledge and necessary skills to stay safe at sea.
Clare recognises the importance of crew members being able to work effectively as a team and the need to care for each other until further medical help arrives. In her training, she shares her passion with everyone she teaches and instils crew members with the confidence and skill to react and respond in the event of a medical incident.
JOHN J HEISER
John has worked as a Critical Care Paramedic for over 25 years. His extensive background with out of hospital care extends from flight medicine to advanced water rescue as a Paramedic in Florida. John’s Marine rescue skills have been sharpened through years of active work with Fort Lauderdale Marine Rescue team, training constantly with the U.S. Coast Guard.
John continues his cutting edge medical training with local authorities to bring the latest and most up to date techniques to the marine industry. He actively works on the busy streets to make sure the knowledge he shares with his class is “real life” training. His excitement, passion and experience are shared through his teachings.
Steve shackleton
Steve has a medical career stretching back 17 years, prior to which he was a member of the armed forces serving across the world. Upon leaving the Military, Steve became a Paramedic and quickly progressed to an Emergency Care Practitioner, becoming the programme lead for Emergency and Urgent Care BSc at Bournemouth University.
This experience led Steve to realise emergency medicine was his preferred specialism and he completed the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) training. Steve remains one of less than 50 people in the country to hold this qualification.
Steve continues to work in various emergency departments, choosing flexible work patterns which allow him to be involved with MSOS training in the Southampton classroom or with clients around the world.
Steve is a keen outdoorsman, who enjoys skiing and snowboarding with his family and has completed multiple cross channel sailing voyages in a variety of sailing boats. Steve has been committed to medical education one way or another for over 12 years and continues to strive to ensure all those who receive training with him benefit from his passion for simulation and interactive teaching methods.
SARA PATERSON
Sara has 15 years’ experience as a critical care nurse working in London’s busiest trauma centres including King’s College Hospital, and as a field nurse supporting local communities in India & Bulgaria. During the pandemic Sara supported the Nightingale Excel London field hospital as a nurse educator to rapidly upskill nurses to critical care. Sara’s qualifications include mentorship, intensive care, anatomy and physiology and tropical nursing.
Sara is passionate about maritime medical response, and has supported the super yacht industry for the past 13 years working as a nurse on both motor and sail yachts, and as the product and training manager for a large telemedical company. She is now based in Palma as a freelance maritime medical instructor and nurse advisor.
On a training day with Sara you can expect to engage in hands on action based skills, and have those skills reinforced with fun and engaging true to life simulated scenarios tailored to your vessel and medical kit.
