Optimising remote health care delivery in Antarctica: a review of the current capabilities utilised in the British Antarctic Territory

• Published in: International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Main Authors: Jonathon Lowe, Matthew Warner
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2023
• Subjects: Antarctica; telemedicine; remote healthcare; reach-back; remote medicine; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Antarctic; Arctic; British Antarctic Territory; Antarc*; British Antarctic Survey; Circumpolar Health; International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2023.2230633; https://doaj.org/article/6d98f292b960449d9fd9489fde221e8c

ABSTRACTInjury in Antarctica can have a significant impact when considering transfer timelines of several weeks. Medical support to the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is provided by deployed healthcare professionals and the utilisation of “reach-back” with telemedicine. This is paired with robust training and familiarisation with a system of modularised deployed equipment.This paper examines the current telemedicine strategy, infrastructure modularisation, and influence from military practice by the British Antarctic Survey Medical Unit (BASMU) for medical care at extreme reach. Current telemedicine practices and utilisation, as well as modular equipment capabilities across the BAT were reviewed to provide an outline of care delivery.Requests varied from expert advice to remote supervision of clinical procedures. Integration of commercially available solutions enabled real-time display of patient physiology. The deployment of modular resources has improved equipment availability and greater standardisation between sites. The sending of case notes and digital x-rays has been generally sufficient but, when greater supervision was required, limited data transfer bandwidth was a challenge.An ongoing review of deployed equipment capabilities may also enhance the ease with which remote support can be offered but an uplift in telemedicine capability will likely require infrastructure upgrades to maintain data transfer from 8000 miles away.