Maritime Remote Medical Advice Performed by Emergency Medical Information Center in South Korea

Park, Hyung Seok; Jeong, Jinwoo; Lee, Jung Wook; Cho, Bong Gyun; Kim, Yongin; Kim, Sung Kwun; Yeom, Seok Ran; Cho, Suck Ju

Abstract

PURPOSE: Seafarers injured at sea need appropriate and prompt medical advice. Since 2002, the Busan emergency medical information center (BEMIC) has provided remote medical advice to vessels on the distant ocean via telephone, e-mail, facsimile and radio-transmission.
METHODS
Seventy-four cases had requested remote medical advices to BEMIC from Jan 2005 to Jul 2005, and they were studied retrospectively. We analyzed patients' general characteristics, type of disease or injury, dispositions, and so forth. The cases were classified into three groups according to disposition. Class I was defined as a case which required simple treatment. Class II involved medical or surgical treatment with close observation. Class III required transfer to the nearest harbor instantly due to severe or uncertain condition.
RESULTS
The nationalities of subjects were Korean (32.4%), Southeast Asians (35.1%), Chinese (24.3%) and others. The most common symptom was abdominal pain (24.3%). The patients'disease types were acute disease (53.4%), trauma (20.3%), burn (13.7%), chronic disease (8.2%) and others. There were 8 voluntary medication cases, which were performed by seamen before taking medical advice. The dispositions were class I (6.8%), class II (39.7%), and class III (53.5%), respectively. A cross-sectional study between the types and the dispositions was performed, revealing a statistical significance (p<0.001).
CONCLUSION
Despite the lack of any kind of direct support from ship companies or governments, the remote medical advice service has performed. Enhancing educational programs based on this data is necessary in order to provide effective education of seafarers.