Airlines Improve Inflight Health Care
Posted on 7 April 2010 by LynThomas in Health, Travel
We have all become familiar with the terms, telephone, television and telecommunications. Now instant interactive communication has thrust medicine into a whole new realm, as airlines have begun installing telemedicine machines onto their long-haul flights.
After ensuring there is no doctor on board, the Tempus IC (telemidicne device) can be used by the cabin crew in an emergency, to take a passenger’s vital signs, including blood pressure and heart rate. These are passed, along with relevant photographs and video, directly to a telemedicine call centre.
A doctor receiving the information can then put together a more thorough diagnosis and give the captain of the plane better advice about whether a diversion is necessary. The crew are then advised on the best line of action to take, for the safety, comfort and care of the passenger.
Doctors will doubtless continue to be called upon to act the ‘Good Samaritan in-flight’, but given that a doctor who does respond, may have inappropriate training and will almost certainly lack appropriate instruments, the appeal of equipment that puts an ill passenger in touch with a doctor who is trained in trauma medicine, who is familiar with the physiological effects of travel at 36,000 feet and who can see their vital signs is obvious.
Airlines may need to update their communication systems to be able to use these machines, but an item such as the Tempus IC looks like becoming an essential part of any first-aid kit.
Graham Murphy, the managing director of RDT, says the Tempus IC provides three main advantages to its users:
- it increases the quality of care the passenger receives,
- it enables airlines to avoid unnecessary diversions and
- it reduces the chance of litigation. The airline can show that it did all that was reasonably possible, since the machine records all the data it receives.
Flight attendants need only four hours of training before they are ready to use the machine. Given the frequency of medical emergencies, its ease of use apparently allows an attendant to use it effectively for many months after training.
Etihad Airways’ chief operations officer, Richard Hill, said: “It will help to ensure that a passenger can receive the appropriate treatment when the aircraft lands, whether by diversion or at the final destination.”
Tempus IC is used on ships, oil rigs and wherever urgent medical assistance is required. It is already being used by Emirates, BMI Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia airlines.
This type of medicine was first employed by the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia in the early 1900s, when two-way radios were used. The first interactive telemedicine system was developed in 1989.
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7 April 2010
[...] It has long been recognized that medical emergencies aboard airlines has been a high demand area. Airlines are now installing telemecidine technology that will give air to ground instant communication, thus increasing the patient’s comfort and degree of medical attention. It will also decrease the threat of litigation against airlines and the responsibility placed on the airlines crew members. Read how Tempus IC is changing the face of medical emergencies in flight… [...]
Does Tempus is still used on different aircrafts of aiplanes companies ? I just mention that some other equipments are available today as MERCURIA from CAMKAsystem. In charge of an official telemedecine suitcases index (CATEL) , I will be very interested to have a direct contact with RDT
Does it possible to receive more information about TEMPUS ? I just want to say that it exists some other telemed mobile solutions as i.e. MERCURIA (CAMKAsystem)