What Is Telemedicine?
Telemedicine can be described as the remote delivery of
healthcare service that includes both health assessments and consultations. The
process allows the healthcare service providers to easily detect, diagnose, and
treat a patient without any in-person visit.
In simple words, it can be further stated that telemedicine
features the use of medical information that's exchanged to evaluate and
improve a patient's health. As mentioned earlier, a patient doesn't need to
come and visit a physician's chamber if he/she is receiving medicinal
advice/consultation through telemedicine.
Advanced technology, for example, video conferencing and
audio conferencing are primarily used for telemedicine. Considering the notable
benefits of telemedicine (such as remote patient monitoring and better
convenience), it's now being widely used among the seafarers and maritime
professionals.
Please note, according to a recent research study report,
around 98% of seafarers have admitted that the use of telemedicine can treat
emergency medical conditions and even save lives. Especially, for those vessels
that do not have an onboard medical supervisor, the benefits of telemedicine
are absolutely unquestionable.
The
Usage of Telemedicine – and the Benefits to Seafarers.
In its early days, telemedicine was originally adopted for
the soldiers and military professionals as well as in rural areas where the
residents do not have a direct access to a nearby medical facility.
But the benefits of telemedicine to the seafaring community
quickly became obvious. Seafarers have
a pretty hectic work schedule and due to the critical nature of their job, they
encounter a myriad of health-related issues, starting from stress and
depression to epidemic diseases and Musculoskeletal Disorder – please see our
earlier blogs.
Each of these potential health concerns may turn into a
permanent disability if they are not treated on time. For example, if an
illness or injury occurs at sea, then the main concern becomes how the
seafaring community will provide an adequate care? Or, how can they handle a
critical medical emergency?
So, the underlying concern is -- how can the seafaring
community receive the much-needed healthcare support when they are away from
their homeland and traveling in a vessel? In such situations, the remote
delivery of healthcare service using the telemedicine facility becomes the most
convenient, viable, and appropriate solution.
Needless to mention, telemedicine is considered to be the
most convenient way of receiving the healthcare assistance for the seafarers.
It doesn't require to schedule a pre-appointment or in-person visit to a
doctor's office. In fact, seafarers can receive top-quality healthcare service promptly
and efficiently with the help of telemedicine.
An experienced and trained medical consultant will evaluate
and assess their medical conditions via phone calls, video conferencing, or
live chat and recommend/advise them the best-possible solution to cope up with
the situation.
The
Final Takeaway:
The increasing rate of potential chronic diseases among the
seafaring community has become a major challenge. Telemedicine will provide
seafarers a better and easier way to maintain control of their overall health.
In addition to this, it's a valuable tool for receiving preventative healthcare
support.
Mayfair, we care.