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

Injury 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.